


[....Loading....]

by Flustered



Category: Captain America - All Media Types, Iron Man - All Media Types, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: A/B/O Universe, Abandoned Work - Unfinished and Discontinued, Alpha Bucky Barnes, Alpha Steve Rogers, Alpha/Alpha, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alpha/Omega, Alpha/Omega/Alpha, Alphas are dicks but know how to give a fella a good time, Alternate Universe, Angst, Backstory, Biology Sucks, Bruce Banner Is a Good Bro, Bucky saves the day, Deaf Clint Barton, Emotions, Fingering, Im sorry but I've changed and Will Not Be finishing this work, Kissing, Knotting, M/M, MIT, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Mentions of Rape, Multi, Multiple Orgasms, Omega Tony Stark, Panic Attacks, Rimming, Serious Groveling, Spit As Lube, Steve is a stubborn little ass, Steve is having emotions, Tony Feels, Tony Is Feeling Like a Emotionally Compromised Teenager, Tony Stark Has Issues, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Tony Stark kinda hates himself, Tony Stark needs a hug again because he really does, Tony is having a sad, depiction of rape, flash backs, heat cycle, like major angst, rhodey is a bro, steve is an ass, why is there so much angst
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-04-09
Updated: 2016-03-28
Packaged: 2018-03-22 02:48:13
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 16
Words: 36,401
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3711973
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Flustered/pseuds/Flustered
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Alphas are suppose to be so biiig and sttrroong. Oh man, Tony can't go without a day with an alpha. Man, it was hard not being without one to fucking breathe.</p><p>Oh wait, Tony fucking Stark is an alpha. (Not an omega, whoever is telling you this should stop before he sues.) He doesn't need anything, or anybody to help him.</p><p>And then there are those two shits.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Umm, helllooo!
> 
> This is my first time remotely trying anything like this. I've never really written porn before, or anything like this in nature. So, like all bad pornos say...
> 
> "Please be gentle."
> 
> (Gosh darn it, I only read fanfiction. I don't even watch porn.)

Tony’s heat came unexpectedly.

One second, he was battling a twenty foot octopus, the next he was suit became unbearable. His skin tingled, and anything touching it made it worse. His suit was skin tight to him, to avoid banging around and such when he was tossed around in battle, making it worse that it had come while in his suit. His body screamed with any pressing machine part, and Tony immediately knew it his heat. (What else could it be?)

And if that wasn’t bad enough, his team was depending on him. Cap was down in New Mexico looking for his bff, Winter Dementia. Widow was AWOL, and Thor was pretty messed up with the death of his brother. Banner was back at the labs, trying to fix the mutigen that was making the twenty foot octopus, simply because the stupid mollusk was endangered and the public would have a field day if they were to simply kill the damn creature.

So, for now, Tony was in charge of the Avengers. Meaning, he was ordering Barton and Thor around, keeping an eye on them while the octopus lashed out at anything that moved on the nearby harbor. Civilians were already out of harms way, but probably recording the whole battle so they all can see the Avengers fight a giant mollusk with anger management issues.

And so, Tony was in a predicament. His skin burned with a certain intensity that craved to be touched, and he knew it was only the start of the symptoms. Within the next two day, he would slowly lose his mind as he waited for the initial heat.

The pre-heat was only the tip of the iceberg.

Tony must’ve done something wrong, or made a noise because within a few seconds after his preheat started, Barton’s voice came through the helmet.

“Stark, you okay?” He said, and the simple voice of the beta caused shivers to violently run down his body. The simulation of the suit and the question made everything so much hotter in the suit.

Tony had opted to ignore this. He could pretend to be fine. And besides, it was only the pre-heat. Not the full bed-ridden heat that would come in the next few days, which would then incapacitate him for the next week and a half. Mind over matter, right?

“Yeah. Glitch. That’s all.” Tony said, before pushing the heat to the back of his mind. Focusing on the task at hand, Tony brought out his repulsors and started to shoot the massive flubber ball.

“I’m sick of this. Barton, shoot the damn thing. I’ll pay the fine.” Tony said, and a few arrows shot out of the shadows to sink into the octopus.

“Fine by me.” Barton said, and Thor hovered in the air next to Tony.

“How may I destroy this creature?” He said, a stony look on his face.

Tony waved his arms in a general direction of the octopus. “It’s hammer time, Thor.”

* * *

 

Okay, okay. Who knew that the octopus had friends? And they were _bigger_ than the original? They had to call in Banner to get rid of the bigger ones that would be able to reach the civilians, which they evacuated immediately. It was like attack by the kraken or something. It had taken them most of the night, and well into the morning before they had gotten all of the enormous octopuses (octopi?), back in their original shape (Shield was working on it) or being shipped to the nearest sushi shop.

Tony was dying. Legitly dying. The feeling of the heat had come back well into the night, and Tony couldn’t ignore it now. The tingling had turned into itching, and now Tony felt like there were ants in his pants and he couldn’t wait to get out of the suit.

Which meant another five hours while he jetted to his house in Malibu. JARVIS had taken over the controls while Tony twitched and moaned with the sensations of the suit around his body. It was about two and a half hours into the flight when he felt the first sign of slick running down his leg. He needed help to come, but not in the way that his body screamed at him for. JARVIS called up Pepper, and Tony gasped out that it was his ‘period’ and he needed some time from work.

The beta had asked he if had needed to send a professional Alpha to the house, to help him through the heat, and Tony gave the negative. Even though his body was full of hormones telling him to fuck, he wouldn’t go that low and bed an alpha that would have power over him.

Pepper had sounded concerned, but Tony and reassured her that he had plenty of toys to use during the duration of the heat. All he asked was two weeks off from R&D chief and Avenger Counselor. With the normal excuses, of course.

And two weeks was enough time for the heat to run it’s course, and for the self hate to eat him up before he can get back to his sarcastic self.

The rest of the time in the suit was on the verge of pain pleasure. The simulation was great, yeah, but it wasn’t what his body wanted and it caused pain to cloud over his mind. Tony didn’t know what time it was when he found himself emerging from the suit, as he was already stumbling inside in his undersuit. His lower half of his body was already soaked in his slick, and his upper half was covered in sweat. JARVIS had the armor carry him into the house and onto one of the beds. The suit had left him to recharge, while Tony struggled his way out of the undersuit and onto the bed. His fingers grasped his hard flesh, and only had to stroke himself a few times before he was already shuddering against the friction.

But sadly, it didn’t flag at all. He was harder than ever, and Tony could only push his face into the pillow and rut against the bed, one of his hands wandering down his body to push into the wet heat, trying to scratch at the unbearable itch that was so deep into his body. His slick oozed between his fingers. The burning feeling of his hole taking two fingers while still in the final stages of pre-heat was painful but better than the suit.

Pressing his chest against the bed, he brought his ass into the air as he tried to give himself as much as possible. He had to stop the itch. It was driving him mad! Tony moaned miserably when he realised that he couldn’t get in far enough with his thin fingers. Turning over to his side, he pulled open the drawer on the table and pulled out a few helpful tools that he could use. They weren’t what he wanted ( _blue eyes blown wide and gold hair, pulling his body back to accept everything that he could offer. “_ Take my knot _.” He said in his alpha voice, low and commanding, making Tony cry out in pleasure as the alpha finally started to push in the thick knot at the base of his cock. It was a difference from the fast pace the alpha had been giving Tony, slow and unrelenting as he writhed at the end of the cock. A thumb pressed at the taut skin obscenely stretched out the middle of the knot, and Tony cried out as he finally saw the white light. “S-Stev-_ ) but it was better than his fingers.

He started with a blue vibrator, using the slick which he had on his hands already before pushing it in. _Too soon_. The pre-heat wasn’t done finished yet, and his body had yet to open itself up. The burning stretch was absolutely _awful_. It made Tony cry out in pain, and he slowed his hand. It felt like he was getting split open, the muscles aching and cramping up his sides. He had stopped the pressure, but only a few moments later did he start to push it again. The itching was starting to get worse, and Tony slowly lost control of his motor functions soon after the blue vibrator had seated all the way in and he flicked the switch, pressing up against the lubricant glands and his prostrate.

He writhed on the bed in an empty house, screaming himself hoarse. Half of his body in pleasure, the other in pain.

 

 

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What is this? Two chapters in a day?
> 
> It is. It's two chapters in a day. Be happy.

Tony came back to the tower two weeks and three days after the octopi incident. Pepper had managed to clean up the whole press about the incident, but also paying a hefty fine that Tony didn’t look twice at. He had come off of his heat five days ago, but had stayed in Malibu to drown in a few glasses of alcohol while coming up with some designs which Pepper would be grateful for. He had always turned to his work in his bad moods. Especially when his newly ordered suppressants couldn’t have alcohol combining them. (Pepper had informed him that his liquor cabinet at the Tower was locked to him, and him only. And if she found out if he drank any beverage while on his new suppressants, she would personally inform all of the Avengers and SHIELD of his orientation. He had kept his mouth shut because he knew she was caring for him in the best way that she could.)

Then he had tried to clean up the suit. It had dried slick at the bottom half, and smelled like an omega in heat. It was a pain to take a sponge to the delicate insides of the suit, but even then there was a faint smell of his heat. He hated any reminder of his vulnerability, and so grabbed the nearest Febreeze and sprayed down the whole suit. Then, once he had deemed it ready, he had flown back the five hours while catching up on the two weeks which he had missed.

There had been another Avenger call, but it hadn’t been to serious. From what Tony could understand with all the blown up false information, Barton had probably broken an arm and Widow was back. Which meant he was in for hell when he came back. Probably asked why he was gone for so long, and the two betas would probably see the lie.

JARVIS was quiet on the way back, and Tony was thankful for it. He wasn’t in the mood to talk, or better yet, start the charade that was his life. He was already suffering for his actions by not having an alpha or somebody to take care of him by having his entire body hurt and randomly seize up, and the headache that seemed to pound to the beat of everything.

Tony hated this.

For the duration of the flight, Tony let himself enjoy the power of flight by adding on an extra hour for loop-de-loops and random free falls which made Tony laugh out loud in joy. He also loved diving below the surface of random lakes and jet underneath them and come out in a spray of repulsors and water. It made him much more happier than he has been for the last few days, and Tony felt the endorphins running through his system as he finally arrived at the tower.

It was early. While it had been late afternoon when he had left, Tony had gone through some timezones which made it now early morning. Nearly 3 AM. Maybe Banner was still up, though it would be unlikely unless he had some project going on, but other than that he would be the only person awake. Even though he doesn’t always fly everywhere in the suit, it always gave him jet lag if he flew long distances. Therefore, he’d have a few hours to collapse before bribing Barton with new arrows and a bow which he could use one handedly.

The suit landed on the pad, and Tony walked down as the machines flipped over him, taking the suit away and storing it until he needed it later. He had deep clean it from all the dry slick, simply because it could do a number of things on the machine. The city was dark, but a few lights were on. The city that never slept.

Moving towards the dark interior of the common room, JARVIS opened the door for Tony as he came inside. It was a little messy, and there wasn’t any new furniture. That probably meant that either Thor was gone, or he had found a sparring partner that wasn’t about to break so easily. Maybe Natasha-

A hand grabbed Tony and pulled him backwards, something thin and sharp pressing up against his neck. Tony wasn’t one to let people do this to him, and already he had JARVIS call up the other Avengers, the ones most likely not to kill him for waking them up.

“Who are you.” A voice growled, and Tony shifted his eyes across the room. _There wasn’t much to be done when you’ve got a knife to your throat_ , he surmised.

The hand on his shoulder squeezed, and Tony bit his lip from crying out. “Tell. Me.” The mysterious man commanded. “Do you work for HYDRA?”

It was that one sentence which made Tony laugh out loud. Really, he had no choice but to. Him? HYDRA? Why on Earth-? Who was this guy?

The man hadn’t apparently expected this, and had loosened up his hand from Tony’s now bruised shoulder. Tony had to chuckle, shaking his head slowly while keeping the knife pressed to his throat in his thoughts.

“HYDRA?” Tony asked incredulously, “why on Earth would you think I would be working for HYDRA?”

“Why would you be breaking and entering in the middle of the night.” The man replied, it wasn’t a question.

“Well, it is my tower.” Tony said, just as the elevator opened and Captain Steve Rogers came into the room, his hands up and weaponless.

“Bucky, it’s alright. It’s Tony, he isn’t going to hurt you.” He said, and Tony watched as Cap went into a slightly submissive posture. Now, if only he had that as a picture, he’d keep that for his background. On everything.

Wait a second, did he say-

“Wait, you’re Bucky Barnes?” Tony said, his hand coming up and pushed the knife away as he turned towards the man behind him. Believe it or not, it really was. Though he had much longer hair than he did in ye old days, and he had a small beard, it really was the assassin. No wonder why he had freaked out.

Then Tony caught sight of the arm. It was absolutely beautiful. All sleek and shiny, perfectly fitted together to readjust with every movement that the assassin made, the hand made perfectly in the shape of the other. The almost silent whirl of the machine calibrating.

But Tony knew he could do better. He could now imagine ( _-the metal fingers crawling up his back until the reached around to play with his nipples, causing him to cry out and arch back. “Please, please.” Tony begged, and the assassin’s chest rumbled in a chuckle. “A bit in a hurry, huh?” He said, moving his hand down to rub insistently at Tony’s thigh, so close to where he wanted it but so far-_ ) opening it up and finding out the secrets, and then making one sooo much better. Tony could feel his pupils dilate, salivating in his mouth.

Tony swallowed, before looking back up at the stoned face assassin which was looking down at him. While Tony was sizing up him, he was doing the same to Tony. It was an odd experience, and Tony had secretly hoped that he had passed whatever test.

“Hi. I’m Tony Stark, but you might know my father, Howard Stark. Not sure if you remember the old douchebag, but-”

“Where is your omega.” Bucky said, his voice a tad more gravily.

“Excuse me?” Tony said, a bit more snappy like than he had wanted to. Where had that come from?

“You faintly smell like an omegas heat. Where are they?”

Tony was on the defense, his face closing up and shutting up tight. How dare they. Anger bubbled up, not directed at them but at himself. He should’ve gas bombed the suit, not put in some Febreeze when it came to super soldiers.

“I don’t know. And I honestly don’t care.” Tony said, his voice sharp. “They were in need of help, and I helped them through it. A mindless fuck.” Lies. But the anger stopped him from saying anymore, and the assassin’s face grew stormy. Bucky opened his mouth to say something, but Cap beat him to it.

“You left your team because you wanted to _help_ an omega?” Cap said angrily. “Clint as a concussion and two fractures on his arm. Natasha almost broke her leg, and Thor almost killed himself!” His voice grew lower, as Cap walked up to Tony. His alpha battle smell was coming off of him in waves, making Tony want to lay down on the ground and beg for forgiveness. But he was a Stark, and Starks don’t do that.

“Shut up.” Tony said, moving closer to Cap. “You’re not the boss of me. I don’t answer to you.” He was saying it to convince himself.

“You _do_. You work for SHIELD, I am the leader of the Avengers.” Cap hissed, their faces close to each other. “I have been assigned to not only protect the world, but my own team. And it doesn’t help if they are off gallivanting and fucking omegas when we needed them.”

“Well tough luck!” Tony spat. “I’m not even an Avenger. I’m just the consultant. So please, come to me if you have a problem. _I’m all ears_.” He said sarcastically.

Cap seemed to be a bit taken it back from the consultant statement, but when Tony continued he came back into the argument. “Tony, you just don’t _get_ it, do you? While you’re off doing god knows what, we’re protecting other people. We can’t do that if you’re taking vacation time, simply because there are lives on the line and we can’t stop and take a break. You’re so selfish-” Cap’s voice grew louder and louder, and Tony knew this was going to end badly.

“Steve.” A warning came from Bucky, somebody whom Tony had forgotten was even there, and apparently he knew it too.

“-that even your _father_ wouldn’t be proud to have you as his son. You don’t even try to act like you cared, and that’s something I at least recognized from him.”

Tony stiffened, and looked Cap in the eye.

“At least I _had_ a father.” He said, “unlike you.”

That’s when the first punch was made.

* * *

 

  
  



	3. Chatper 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> That meant blessed 72 hours of being in his lab, minimum.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning- depression. That thing... yes.

Tony woke up with the sensation of a sore jaw and the aching feeling of irritability from having an unsatisfactory heat. That immediately cramped up his day, and he got out of the bed on the wrong side.

He tossed the fluffy blankets off of him haphazardly, and immediately found his dirtiest, oil stained shirt. Fuck the others, he was going to spend the rest of the day, maybe even the week, in the lab. They probably wouldn’t really care right now, but it was his sanctuary. And the fact that only Pepper and He-Who-Is-A-Dick know the code, and neither would bother him for at least three days.

That meant blessed 72 hours of being in his lab, minimum. Nobody would bother him, unless they either wanted to chew him out (which he had plenty of, earlier that day when JARVIS had called them up to make Steve and Tony stop fighting) or make them something. And hopefully by the time they actually come near him, he’d have a product he could shove into their hands and wave them on their way. In order, it would probably Barton, Widow, Banner (depending if he needed something for a test), Thor (mostly because he was out of poptarts, and he disliked talking to JARVIS for more), and then Cap. Barnes wouldn’t come at all, but who honestly knew? The new alpha in the tower could make the next few days a bit unstable, but everybody would get used to the new assassin to the tower.

Now, about that arm… Already Tony had tossed a few designs in his head around, but he couldn’t exactly create anything until he saw how Barnes was moving it, and the socket into which was embedded into his shoulder. Knowing all sorts of nasty things which the HYDRA scientists did, Tony was sure that he wasn’t going to be poked and prodded for a long time yet. But that didn’t stop the thoughts of _that_ _arm_ entering his head and whoa-mama.

Tony had a serious crush on that tech, it was almost embarrassing.

At the door, Tony hesitated. This was one of the points where he really wished he hadn’t made the living space on his floor, at the top of the tower. He could feel people talking outside of the door, and after that mornings rant and disappointment, Tony didn’t want to go out and meet with everybody. It made his shoulders hang with stress, and the disappointment ( _which sucks, because they actually matter to Tony these days. He actually cared about their opinion about him, which caused more hurt than any bad publicity_ ) made his post-heat symptoms so much worse.

Tony began to think up of a way to install an elevator, or some type of avoidance system so he didn’t have to be around the others. He was ready to go on a lab trek, and Tony wished he had gotten earlier, or didn’t go to bed at all so he didn’t have to confront the others. They’d probably ignore him, which would hurt more with his new symptoms, and Tony would be left with all sorts of _unwanted_ feelings while he created.

At least he had Dummy and You down in the labs. They’d probably want to give him green smoothies since he was gone for so long. JARVIS would have been taking care of them, but maybe he could fix them up a bit with some oil. They seem to like that the best.

Gathering up his wits, Tony emerged from his room, heading towards the elevators. He ignored the others, not daring to look at them while he held his head up high. The conversation stopped, and the smell of angry alpha and beta hormones and bacon almost sent Tony retching. They were all pissed off at him, no denying it. Only Banner seemed indifferent, but Tony knew that next time he’d meet the Hulk, he’d get tossed around a little more than usual.

“Morning.” Tony said, as JARVIS pulled the elevator open, and he stepped inside. That was as much as he could stomach at the moment. As he observed the others as the doors were closing, everybody was pointedly looking away. All except, Barnes. He was studying Tony with an intent, that Tony was sure that he knew all of his secrets.

It made him feel even more vulnerable than before.

The doors closed, and JARVIS took Tony down to the lab.

Dummy and You had obviously missed him. At least they were happy to see him.

* * *

 

Pepper called about the fourth day. Tony was regularly reminded by JARVIS to pop a few suppressant pills to disguise his scent, so that’s how he knew. It was only a matter of time before Pepper would call, or when one of the Avengers told her about how they were so angry. (Tony’s money was on Barton, figuring he always called up Pepper and regularly bitched to her. Why? Tony had a sneaking suspicion that Widow and Barton were trying to get Pep into their beds, probably already had. The beta’s all had to stick together.)

Tony had shut the lab into lock down once he had entered, and the only communication from the outside was a few inquiries about a some R&D policies. After all, he still owned a large part of the company. He had settled those through JARVIS, and had managed to create three new prototypes of arrows for Barton, along with a crossbow which he could shoot with only one hand. Widow had five new functions on her widow bites, and three new holsters which she could hide under her dresses seamlessly. Thor, well, what could you really do with a god? A cape, made out of a thick rich red fabric. It was a bother to sew, because it kept on breaking the needle.

Banner had two new fabrics that would keep him from flashing his green jewels around, two different purples for variety. Cap got a new costume, (a little tighter around the ass, just to annoy him, Tony figured it was enough to feel better about himself) and three new guns which he could carry into battle and not be crushed by his super strength.

Even Barnes got something (he got the most, mostly because Tony felt sorry that he didn’t make a good impression. And besides, who’d trust a person who had hurt his bff by throwing a few weak punches around?). He got two long ranged firearms, six new knives of various unbreakable metals, several new holsters, a new costume (complete in the shade of the darkest black because honestly, who knew what his favorite color was), a pair of goggles similar to Tony’s helmet, calculating wind trajectory and such, and his favorite, blueprints to a new arm. (So Tony couldn’t get it out of his head. Sue him.) He didn’t know how it connected or not, but that didn’t stop him from outlining a few stray thoughts.

After boxing them all up and leaving them outside of his lab for some delivery boy to take them up to their floors, Tony had consumed three health bars, two green shakes and collapsed on the cot in the corner when JARVIS had told him that Pepper was calling.

Sleep deprived, and still feeling like an emotional rollercoaster, Tony had only hesitated slightly before giving JARVIS the okay to accept the call.

“‘Sup Pep.” Tony said, his arm thrown over his face. “How are you this fine day?” He actually had no idea what day it was. It escaped his mind at the moment.

“I’m doing fine. I just got out of a meeting with the Baron of Hungary. He agreed on several of our deals, and is quite taken with Stark Industries.” Pepper said, and Tony hummed affirmatively.

“Sweet. That’s really good, Pep. I’m proud of you.” Tony said.

“It isn’t becoming a superhero or anything, but thanks. I appreciate it. How are you?” Pepper asked, and Tony sighed. Usually he would bullshit himself, and Pep would either call him on it and call up Cap, or accept he wasn’t going to tell her anything. However, he was so tired he couldn’t think up an explainable excuse.

“Awful.” Tony moaned, “I feel like a emotionally unstable teenaged girl with the constant feeling of angst.”

“Oh honey. What happened?” Pepper tone was soft, and instantly Tony relaxed against the cot. She always knew when to baby him, even though he would never admit it, she was the best person in the entire world to tell that he was an omega.

“Alphas. Alphas and daddy issues. Plus, I’m still going on the depressed anti-heat feelings and it’s just so _meh_.” Tony couldn’t put it in words. “Everybody thinks I spent my heat weeks screwing some omega chick, and there was apparently a huge disaster that caused Barton to jump off a building on his own and fracture his arm. Thor went off the deep end, because of the you-know-what and Widow and Cap came back in the nick of time to save the day. But since I wasn’t around, they’re blaming me because I was playing up to my playboy life and blah blah blah they’re all ignoring me.”

“Tony.” Pepper’s voice was edged in anger. “I will come down there right now _and so help me_.”

“It’s alright Pep. It’s alright.”

“No, it isn’t! They have no right to assume that you were gone- and they knew you were gone for a while! It’s their own fault that Clint threw himself off a building, not yours.”

“They do have a right, Pep.” Tony said, “remember? I’m an alpha? Believe it or not, everything can get blamed on me.”

“Tony-”

“Hey, it’s alright. I’ve already sent them their apology gifts, and they can open up their packages like greedy little kids on Christmas to see what they’ve got.” Tony said dismissively.

There was a pause over the phone. “Tony, how long ago was your argument?” Pepper asked, her voice neutral.

“Oh, I can’t remember. JARVIS?”

“Approximately 4 days, 8 hours, and 20 minutes ago.”

“JARVIS? When was the last time Tony slept?”

“4 days, 6 hours, and 58 minutes ago.”

_“Tony!”_

Tony cringed. He knew it was going to come to this, and Pepper’s rage was worse than Cap’s. He cowered on the bed, as Pepper started on her weekly talk about how sleep was important and he needed to sleep more often. All in all, it took about twenty minutes of full on ranting before she finished.

“If it means anything, I was about to sleep when you called.” Tony said, and he heard the exasperated sigh from Pepper over the phone.

“You do it in your own bed.” Pepper commanded, “not in your lab. Or else I will call Steve and he will boot you out.”

Tony scoffed. “I doubt it.”

“Believe it or not, your team cares for you.”

“Well,” Tony said, anger making his voice sharp. “He passed a line. In fact, JARVIS, change the lock code to my lab. Send Pep the code, and only her. Captain Fuckass doesn’t get shit from me anymore.”

“Tony-”

“Pepper, I’m going to bed. I can’t feel my brain, and my coffee maker stopped working two hours ago when I accidentally dissected it in the name of science. If it will make you feel better, I’ll go upstairs and collapse.” He said exasperated, sitting up.

“Fine. But I’m coming over. You’re not to get back into the lab until I’m at the Tower.” Pepper said, her voice giving Tony no room for argument.

“Okay. Okay.” Tony said, his voice in resignation. “Bye Pep.”

“I’ll see you, Tony.” Pepper said, and the phone call ended. Tony got to his feet, his head feeling light as JARVIS slowly shut the lab down. Dummy and You went to their charging stations, and all work was saved as Tony pushed his way out of the lab and to the elevator. A wave of exhaustion hit him in the face, and suddenly Tony felt like he was brain dead. JARVIS had already brought elevator up, and he leaned up against the wall until the doors reopened again.

There was conversation in the room, but stopped as Tony walked in. He didn’t noticed as he stumbled over to his room. A zombie. He was a zombie.

“Tony?”

He turned, looking over his shoulder over at Banner. “Hm?” He swayed on his feet.

“Are you- okay?”

“‘Mfine.” Tony wasn’t bothered to actually speak anymore as he have a wave of his hand and entered his room. He shut the door with more force than he had meant to, but once his eyes had landed on the messy sheets of his bed all bets were off. Kicking off his shoes messily, Tony flopped on the bed and passed out.

He was completely out, he didn’t see the door open slightly, and Bruce poked his head in to check up on his team member. Seeing Tony asleep, he gave a hesitant smile before quietly shutting the door behind him.

Tony was just tired. That’s all.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay... So I wasn't expecting such a large amount of love for the first two chapters. I was really suprised. Like, wow. People like this... huh? Well.... yeah.  
> I'll hopefully update again... soon. It will get better as I go along. I promise.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> (He did not scream. It was only a little sound of shock, definitely not a scream. And if it was, it was completely manly.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING- DEPICTION OF RAPE. IF YOU TRIGGER, SKIP THE ITALICIZED WRITING AT BEGINNING.

_-gunfire and dust clouding his senses, blinding the omega as he dove from the vehicle to the ground. The gunfire was everywhere, and all he saw was blood. Pouring from the twenty-odd some year old who laid in the dirt next to him. There were other figures that were dressed in camo which were on the ground, unmoving. He pulled out his phone, to do something- to call somebody who knew- when something hit the dirt next to him. He looked over with wide eyes, reading the Stark Industries logo, using his precious seconds to actually think ‘wait what’ before he lunged away from the bomb. Sadly, he didn’t get too far. He landed on the ground, the blood blooming on his chest, staring up at the sky._

_The sky turned into murky water, as the omega was pushed under the surface of it. He struggled weakly, but the car battery in his arms limited his motions. The water clouded his senses as he was held under the surface. It wasn’t until he was floating, when he was pulled from the water, the harsh light and noises ringing throughout his head. It was all too much but too little. The omega mumbled a few things, breathing harshly before his head was shoved under the the water again. He screamed._

_He screamed, the pain from being taken violating his entire body. He could faintly hear Yinsen in the background, yelling for them to leave him alone. But it didn’t help as the heat roared in his eardrums and somebody roughly shoved their cock into his ass. It appeased the growing itching, satisfying the heat at the moment, but they didn’t give him what the omega wanted. They didn’t knot him. He could feel the sticky release dripping down his legs from where he was tied down, but every time they released, they would move onto the next person. It made Tony feel sick, but too pleased to have somebody paying him attention during his heat. He hadn’t let somebody help since Rhodey- There was a particularly hard thrust and there was the warm sensation. Tony screamed, his body arching upwards to look up at the ceiling._

_The ceiling was the darkness. The complete darkness of space. He watched as the missile rocket off towards the hulking ships, blocking out the stars. He didn’t know if he’d be fried like everything else, or if he’d protected from the blast while the shrapnel finally did their mission. It was a strange thing to wonder, maybe one of the last things he’d think about. The omega couldn't see out well from the slits in the mask, depending on the HUD to show him things, however it and JARVIS was gone. All gone._

_The omega closed his eyes, ready to finally die._

Tony woke up with a shout, jolting out of bed into a sitting position. His fingers immediately felt out the arc reactor, a small sigh of relief as he felt it humming slightly under his fingers. The coconut and copper flavor was particularly heavy on his tongue this morning, and Tony grimaced at the taste. It wasn’t as bad as the other flavors which he woke up in his mouth, but it reminded him of things which he didn’t want to think about.

Tossing his feet over the side of the bed, Tony knew it was too early for him to wake up simply because of the wave of exhaustion that hit him when he stood up. He should go back to sleep for at least a few more hours, but he knew it wouldn’t do anything. He was awake, and now he had to stay awake because his mind would wander down paths he didn’t want to touch. Thankfully, he had the distraction of everyday life to help with that.

Pulling off his oil stained clothes, Tony stumbled his way over to the shower. JARVIS immediately turned on the shower, while Tony pulled out his toothbrush and began to brush out the taste in his mouth. He looked awful in the mirror. There were dark spots under his eyes, and it was apparent that he hadn’t eaten properly in a few days. His facial hair was getting a little out of control, and he had to bring out the razor sometime later. It was times like these which Tony wished, a little tiny part of him full on begged, that he was the perfect omega. He got the short part down, yeah, but the thin and fragile obedient part was never going to come. Tony constantly worked with metals, leaving him with more upper muscle mass than most people got during their lifetimes, along with all the scars all over his body from experiments which failed.

Tony ignored the feeling, and climbed into the shower. It was absolutely perfect, as always. JARVIS knew the best temperature of water, and now Tony found it was heavens gift on Earth. He stood under the spray of water, letting it beat against his back and loosen the muscles. It took a while, but finally he got to the part of washing himself off. Using synthetic body washes that smelled like alphas, (which made Tony crinkle his nose because of the chemical smell that it gave him) Tony quickly washed his body down and stayed under the spray of the water for a few more minutes.

Stepping out of the shower, Tony wrapped himself up in the fluffiest towel in the tower and walked out of the steamy bathroom in the search for some comfortable clothing.

And found somebody waiting for him on his bed.

(He did not scream. It was only a little sound of shock, definitely not a scream. And if it was, it was completely manly.)

Barnes was thumbing one of the new knives which Tony had sent him earlier, giving it his attention instead of on Tony. It had a dark purple shine to it, due to the material that was in it’s blade, and Tony had dipped it in some chemicals to give it a better look.

Right now, in the light, it earrily looked like blood.

“Barnes!” Tony said, tightening his grip on the towel but didn’t move from where he stepped out from the bathroom. “What-”

“Why did you send me weapons.” It wasn’t a question, and Barnes didn’t look up from the knife. Tony stilled, silently unsure if he did something wrong or not. After a second, and running through several possibilities in his head (many of which used the knife and him together) Tony answered.

“Because I had some time on my hands, and I thought ‘hey, new assassin in the tower and he doesn’t have any tech so why not’ and viola. Weapons.” Tony said, eyeing the assassin.

“Really? Or do you want me to do your dirty work?” Barnes straightened up, his eyes still on the knife as he twirled it around his fingers deftly. “I’m sure as a man in your position that you have quite a few enemies.”

Tony had to snort. Really, it’s like he had a death wish with the Winter Soldier, but he couldn’t stop himself. It was almost as bad working for HYDRA thing. He saw Barnes look up at him, and gave him a smirk.

“God, I’m more likely to get killed by my own team than my enemies, which is saying something. To say I have a quite a few enemies is like calling JARVIS a computer chip.” Tony waved his hand dismissively. “Yeah, I have tons of enemies. Mostly News Reporters which like to mess up my life even more, but I tend to ignore those. And besides, you’re not the only assassin in the tower. If I really wanted somebody gone, I would either finish them off myself, or send Cap with his puppy eyes after them.” He said, finally moving away from the doorway to his closet to find some pants and maybe a shirt. Standing naked and talking to a assassin wasn’t something Tony wanted to do unclothed. So therefore, Tony decided to ignore his better instincts and turned his back on the assassin.

“So the answer is no,” Tony said, “I’m not giving you weapons because I’m bribing you. Think of it this way. I’m an asshole, and you’re a guy who got caught up in an unavoidable fight. Therefore, I’m sending you things so you know that you can’t kill me because I’m an asshole who makes weapons.” Tony found a shirt and pulled it on, keeping the towel on his waist expertly.

“You didn’t start the fight, Steve did.” Barnes said, and Tony looked back to see a confused kicked dog look on his face. “The others also yelled at you. You barely fought.” The alpha was confused, and looked up at Tony for reassurance that he was right.

Tony nodded. “Yep. But it’s my way of apologies. I’m not good with them, so I give them better equipment as I brain storm down in my lab.”

“But they hurt you, and you give them the means to hurt you more?” The alpha looked so confused that it was hurting Tony by just looking at him. Finding a pair of yoga pants, he dropped the towel and pulled them on. He didn’t comment on how Barnes was obviously checking him out.

“Well, it’s what I do to try and…” Tony paused, looking for the right word. “Take care? Take care of the team. I try to help them as much as I can in the way I know how, you know? And if they’re angry with me, then I stress relieve my way out through making more gadgets. It’s weird and complicated.” Tony said, and Barnes slowly nodded, as if seeing some light. Tony resisted the urge to sit next to Barnes and give him comfort.

“You don’t know any other way to tell them that you’re sorry.”

“Yep. Smack dab on the dot.”

“But you didn’t do anything wrong. From what I’ve seen, it was all of theirs.”

“Well, everybody needs a scapegoat. I wasn’t there when they needed me, and besides, we all work better when we’re a team. Barton probably forgot that I wasn’t there to catch him, and he’s probably beating himself up in the range with the new cross bow I got him. Hey, which reminds me. How are your weapons? They good or do you want anything else.”

Barnes mouth tipped up in a faint smile. “I only managed to smuggle out the knife before Steve noticed I had a few boxes for me. He’s going through them, but I’m pretty sure they’re going to be hidden until he can give them back to you.”

Tony gave a laugh to that. “I can imagine him looking at the stuff with growing horror on his face.”

“So what did you pack in those boxes for me?”

“Oh well, I got a few more knives, a couple awesome looking guns which I think you’d like. And then there was a suit, and let me tell you, getting your measurements made me get the creative thinking out-”

* * *

 

“Why are you putting cheese in that? JARVIS why is he putting cheese in that?” Tony said, watching as Barnes moved through the kitchen. After a few hours talking about random things, when Tony’s stomach finally grumbled.

So now, Tony watched Barnes make some type of Russian food, while he tried to figure out how the man could cook. It wasn’t like Tony knew how to cook, even he could follow the directions, but somehow every time he tried to make something other than toast, it would end up charred or would make him feel sick for a few days.

After saying this much to Barnes, the man had immediately started to work on some type of cheesy breakfast thing that he was cooking. At first Tony had figured to be some type of batter, but as the more and more strange ingredients were placed in there, the more unsure he was of it.

Barnes ignored him as Tony watched on as he finally balled out the dough, and poured it onto a hot pan. It sizzled, and the assassin watched with an intensity that should not be used while cooking.

Tony moved to stand up, and Barnes turned his evil assassin stare onto him.

“Sit.” He said in his gravelly voice. “I’m making you something this time.”

How could Tony say no to that? And besides, he was pretty sure that saying no would lead whatever confidence Barnes gained in their talks would go down the drain. So, for now, Tony would let Barnes do whatever he wanted to, simply because it would help him. Drawing a doodle on a scrap of paper while he waited, Tony just sort of let Barnes do his thing over the stove.

While whatever was cooking on the pan, Barnes went through the kitchen with practice. Picking up one of the several plates and setting it in front of Tony, he constructed a small dining space for him. It was… rather cute, really. Barnes made sure everything was perfect down to the smallest detail. The fork was on the left side, while the knife and spoon were on the other, perfectly in line with each other. He completely ignored Tony’s questions and comments as he tried to make (or at least this was what Tony thought) a perfect breakfast.

When the mysterious objects of unknown origin came out of the frying pan and onto a separate plate, Tony was completely unsure about what to do. Should he actually eat this? Or take a photo. Should he mess up the plating? Or should he call in Steve to have him eat, since his ever-so loving bff made such an effort for this.

Barnes poured him a glass of orange juice, placed one of the objects on his plate, and looked at him expectantly. After an uncomfortable stillness of eye contact, Tony finally grabbed the knife and fork up, watching Barnes carefully. If he made any sudden moves about messing this up-

He didn’t. Tony took that as a green light. Cutting into the brown sorta-flat round thing, Tony speared it onto his fork and lifted it up to his lips, all the while knowing that Barnes was watching his every move.

Oh. My. _Fuck_.

“What is this?” Tony said, his mouth still half full of the most delicious thing in the entire planet for breakfast. Equally part fluffy, part hot gooey cheese, Tony had never had something like this before.

“Syrniki. Do you not like it?” Barnes looked a little devastated. His shoulders slumped, and an adorable puppy confused face crossed his features. All in all, it was the look of a defeated man.

“Barnes. This is _awesome_! How- what did you put in this thing? I can’t-” Tony paused as he shoveled in another fork full of this ‘syrniki’. He moaned (a bit exaggerated, he couldn’t help it. Barnes could pull off that look so well) as the flavor hit his tongue. “Oh my gawd.” His words were muffled by the food but it was so worth it. Seeing the light enter back Barnes eyes as he watched Tony shovel the food into his mouth seemed to have made the world start to turn again. A small smile creeped up the edge of his mouth.

“You like it?”

“Fuck yeah.” Tony moaned again, “you are hereby my breakfast chef. I shall never have any other breakfast but yours. You’ll make me this every morning, because yes! Remind me to give you the access codes later.” Tony said as he finished the syrniki. He gave Barnes a well placed wink. “This gave me a foodgasm.”

This sent the Russian spy back to the stove as he placed another fluffy brown roll like thing on Tony’s place. He had the air of an excited puppy, but looked at Tony with blank face. His eyes though, were so pleased looking.

“Eat up.”

Tony did so with heartiness.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I legibly cried.  
> Like, wow people. You like this? I can't believe- fdjkaljfdak; this is awesome. I can't believe how many of you gave me kudos and how many hits... aw people. You're making me update faster. (Which I think all of you like this.)  
> So, thank you every single one of you. You're awesome!
> 
> (Also, it's snowing. And I'm bored. So, I'm working on the EIGHTH chapter. Yes. I have everything else done.... so bored.... why you snow in middle of spring?)


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, this is a little bit shorter than usual, so I am updating because of so many amazing comments!  
> WARNING- Angst. Lots, and lots of angst.

Pep wasn’t suppose to get back until later that day, and figuring Tony had made a promise to her which JARVIS heard, he wasn’t going into the lab anytime soon. So, locked out of the lab, an unreasonable hour in the morning, plus having a new pal which seemed to want to do everything for Tony equals spending time not locked away from the people who are still most likely angry with him. With a new friend who wanted human contact with him. (Not that Tony was complaining at all, it was just an interesting tidbit which threw him off at first.)

So, after breakfast had been cooked, and all of which was eaten (Barnes had finished off the rest when Tony said he had enough), Tony had thought ‘hey, might as well catch up on some reading’. He hadn’t been able to sit down and read a few theoretical papers in a while, and new stuff comes out all the time, it was a perfect plan of action. Telling Barnes that he was planning on sitting down and reading for a bit, he had left to grab his Stark Pad.

When he came back, to escape into one of the lesser used rooms of the library in the tower, he had found Barnes sitting on a couch and giving him an expectant look. The Russian Assassin patted the cushion next to him, and Tony had a sudden change of plans.

Only fifteen minutes into a paper, Rogers walks in. He had obviously gone out for a run, and his new friend, Falcon, was with him. They were in a middle of a conversation when Rogers had spotted them on the couch. There was a wide range of emotions that crossed Rogers face in a matter of seconds. He looked surprised, and then embarrassed, confusion, angry, embarrassed again but this time as in ‘angry’ kind, then he had a blank face on.

Falcon noticed them a minute later.

Alright, so it was a little bit of a compromising position. Tony was leaning his back against Barnes chest, while the super soldier had his arms around his hips. Barnes kept on moving them before, awkwardly trying to find a comfortable place so that Tony wouldn’t have any discomforts (which he didn’t. At all. Because he was an alpha, and alphas don’t do this but for the love of anything good, don’t disappoint Barnes because he can rip your heart out with a baleful puppy look) until Tony had grabbed his hands and placed them on his waist. They had curled round Tony, so it looked like Barnes was holding him.

And Tony just about melted. (Lies. All lies.) The warmth from the body behind him and the scent of gunpowder and engine oil wafted around him made the omega in him want to relax against the strong figure of the alpha which was doting on him. (It was dangerous to let Barnes do so, but Tony had years denying his instincts, so he figured he could let him do it just this once.) But Tony remained slightly stiff against Barnes, and he wasn’t in a submissive pose whatsoever. (If he were, then he might actually break.)

There was a complete moment of silence, before Rogers spoke up.

“Hey Buck, Tony. We’re just about to have some breakfast, want some?” He said, in a startling normal tone.

Tony waited a second, just to see if Barnes wanted to speak for himself or not, before shaking his head. “Sorry Cap, been there, done that. But if you’d like some help...” He gave up an olive branch of (hopeful) peace.

“Thanks.” Rogers said, without any indication in his voice that he meant it. “I’ll need it.”

“I’ll… uh. Go take a shower or something.” Falcon said, before disappearing. The small waft of beta and much larger, stronger smell of angry alpha hormones finally passed by Tony’s face.

Great. What did he do now?!

Barnes arms tightened around Tony’s waist, and a low growl caught in the alphas throat. The two super soldiers suddenly had a stare off, challenging each other for a silent fight of dominance. That is, until Tony had enough of it.

“Okay,” Tony freed himself from Barnes grasp and set his Stark Pad on the coffee table. “Where would you like me, Cap? Though, I have to admit, I’m not much help in the kitchen.”

The tension was momentarily displaced. Barnes lowering his eyes, while Rogers huffed out his chest in victory of dominance. Then he looked at Tony with such distain, while he gave him a strained smile.

“Neither am I, but I’m sure we can make something worthwhile.” Rogers said, heading towards the kitchen.

Barnes moved to follow Tony in there as well, but with one look from Tony, he sat back down on the couch. It would get ugly, and fast, if any indication from Rogers attitude was right. And he didn’t want Barnes to get into it.

Which, by all means, was weird. It had only taken hours for Barnes to enter his close knit group of friends, and now Tony wanted him to get better. He thought of Barnes first, then of himself. He knew that Rogers was going to give him a tongue lashing, about what he didn’t know, but still, Tony didn’t Barnes to hear it. Usually he would be more subtle with helping his friends, but how could he be so suttle in this situation?

Exactly.

Tony wonders silently as he enters the kitchen how exactly Barnes had managed to get past his defenses so quickly.

He didn’t have the chance to ponder the question as he was roughly grabbed and pressed up against the fridge. The assaulting smell of angry alpha enveloped Tony as he was pushed up against the metal doors, Rogers blue eyes steel against his own.

“What do you think you’re doing?” He growled, and Tony grunted.

“Being his friend, what the fuck do you think I’m doing?” Tony hissed back, raising his chin up in defiance.

“No.” Rogers said, “Bucky is _mine_.” His voice slipped into an alpha growl which made Tony flinch.

“You think I’m staking a claim?” Tony’s voice pitched upwards in incredulity. “I’m just letting him do whatever he wants to. He isn’t yours, because Barnes deserves to be whoever he wants to.”

Rogers let out a deep growl. “He is mine, and you are in my territory.” Tony knew it was the alpha talking, not Steve Rogers, but still it made him pissed off that he thought that Barnes actually _belonged_ to him.

“Oh? And I can’t be friends with him simply because he’s your territory? What kind of _sick fuck_ are you?” Tony growled back, not as deeply, but gave Rogers a clue to how pissed off his was. “I hate people who think that other people belong to them.”

“Oh? That’s cheap coming from you.” Rogers said, “whenever we complain about something, _anything_ , you always pull the ‘I own the building, you can’t say anything’ joke. You keep on saying that without you, we’d be in a SHIELD helicarrier, but that sounds like a better idea more than often.” Rogers snarled, and Tony could feel any self confidence sinking below the sea level like the titanic. (It was an omega thing, one that never seemed to die even if Tony tried to ignore it.)

“Fine.” Tony snapped sharply, “take your ‘ _territory_ ’ and leave. I’m sure there are plenty of apartments you can find down in Brooklyn.” Tony found his strength and pushed against the supersoldier. Roger fell back, giving Tony some space. “Leave. I’m done with you, with all of your pushiness, and your assumptions. Leave!”

Rogers took a step back, but Tony didn’t care. “Huh? What’s keeping you here? Not me, that’s for sure. Why don’t you and your _territory_ go back to Brooklyn and go fuck yourselves!” Tony stormed out of the kitchen and went straight to the only sanctuary that he would feel safe about. The elevator opened at his arrival, and JARVIS closed the doors as quick as possible.

“JARVIS, lab. Now.” Tony said, seething.

“Of course, Sir.”

* * *

 

_“Worthless.”_

Tony pulled the hammer back and slammed it back down on the red hot metal. It bounced with the force, and the cherry red metal had a dent in it.

_“You don’t belong in the family, you worthless omega.”_

He twisted the metal, turning it on it’s side and pulling the hammer down on it again. It clanged with a sharp sound, the heat rolling off of fireplace behind him. Sweat dripped down his body, dripping into his eyes and blinking away it. He wasn’t crying, not at all. He was an alpha.

_“Anthony Stark, omega. Who would’ve thought? Now we have one whore in the family.”_

He pulled back the metal and stuck it back into the fire, letting it reheat as he gripped the hammer in his hands. He was drowning in the helpless feeling he rarely took over. But when it did it took over all of his functions. JARVIS knew better than to bother him.

_“Worthless. That’s what you are. Maybe if you stay clean until you’re old enough to be sold off, the family won’t be shamed. Yes, I believe that’s right.”_

“Tony? Oh god, Tony!”

Hands were at him, taking the hot iron poker from his hands and dunking it into some water. There was a hissing noise, and the hands were on him again. They were on his face, wiping away the wetness that seemed to grow there. The smell of slight peppery strawberries caught his nose, and he knew that in front of him was his friend.

“Pep.” He whimpered, in pain. “Oh Pep. I’m gone. I’m worthless. I can’t.” He said, sinking to his knees. “I can’t. Not anymore.”

“Tony.” Her soft voice was there, touching him gently and pulling him into an embrace. “You _can_. You _will_. You’re Tony Stark, the best person I know.” She whispered to him, and Tony grasped at her clothing and buried his head into her neck. She patted his hair, stroking him until he was shaking in her arms. All the while, she whispered her reassurances.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You evil people. Your comments are my weakness. You're making me update far too soon!! UGhdsal;fjd. This wasn't suppose to come out until Friday!!
> 
> Sorry, but they had to leave. They just had to.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> All in all, Tony was unbothered. He made designs, built rockets, and whatever shit he couldn’t remember. He was at the point of a project before saying ‘fuck it’.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, we're going to dive into Tony's relationship between his team mates now.... and his own feelings... *lightning strikes in the distance*  
> Sorry about the size, this is going to be a little be short. :/

Tony didn’t come up from his lab, even if Pepper was coaxing him. Or bribing, or even threatening. For three days, he spent curled up on a cot, or in the middle of machines. JARVIS had kept him up on the doings of the others. Falcon (whatever his name was) had helped Barnes and Cap find a place down in Brooklyn, moving whatever they had down there in a day or so, and came back to horse around with Barton. (Those two are oddly friendly with each other, maybe because they were both in a military. Anyway, he had to start getting a few bird jokes for them.)

Widow had taken down any cameras in her suit, only leaving the mics, probably because she’d want Jarvis to do something for her. So, other than the occasional sound of fabric, Tony didn’t really know what she was up to.

Banner had joined him in his secondary lab, the one right above where Tony was. Occasionally he’d come down and they would bounce ideas off each other. But other than that, Tony was relatively unbothered. He would be doing his own type of science, and Tony appreciated that he was in the Tower to begin with, but when he had first come Tony had offered to help him, but had refused every time. So Tony had stopped asking.

Thor was antsy, waiting for something bad to come so he could destroy it. He blamed himself so much for Loki’s death, his omega, that he was convinced the only good thing he could do was save Earth. And when it didn’t need saving, it drove him stir crazy.

All in all, Tony was unbothered. He made designs, built rockets, and whatever shit he couldn’t remember. He was at the point of a project before saying ‘fuck it’.

“Why the hell am I pouting?” Tony snapped, throwing a wrench across the room. “I’m Tony Fucking Stark! Why am I making myself feel terrible because of those two morons! How cares?! I’ve been perfectly happy by myself! _They literally have no control over me_. Why do I feel this down, when it’s his fault?!” Tony ranted at himself. “Who cares? It’s his problem, not mine. There is literally nothing between us besides the fact that I’m his team mate!”

He ran his fingers through his hair, frustrated. Why was he sulking? He means, yeah. It was nice being taken care for a little while, even if it was Barnes (and his heartfelt eyes, curse him). He rarely indulged in his desires, doing something else and it was peaceful to finally stop ignoring his instincts. Even if it was a slight bit of giving up some of the work. It was really, really nice.

But this wouldn’t happen again. It was a one time offer, which had long since expired. Although nice at the moment, but unwelcome in the long run. It was a pain, really, to have somebody to look after him.

The last person who did so, turned out that he wanted to kill Tony, so… all in all, it was something that Tony occasionally, very rarely indulged himself on.

And now he was pouting about it?

Why should he? He got a pain in the ass out of the building and living across town! His boyfriend who has some issues is with him, yes, but maybe it would be better to have him away from Tony. Who knew what sort of things he could pick up from Tony?

It was really good though, to have two alphas out of the home. Thor did most of his stuff in his room, and Banner, well, who knew what Banner was. (Tony wasn’t going to look, after all he gave his friends some privacy.) The beta’s did their own thing, so Tony could finally relax for a change.

It was a good thing.

So why on Earth was he pouting?

Tony quickly got his attitude under control. No more hollow feelings, nor helpless weakness that seemed to come and go. It was a bitch to feel better after a bout of that, but Tony was determined to feel better.

He wanted to feel better, because that made him feel worthless.

And have you seen his salary? 70 million. MILLION. So, he wasn’t, in fact, worthless. He was Tony Stark! And this wasn’t a sob story about how he felt so bad about kicking two alphas out and making them his mates, oh no. No, he was powerful. All by his fucking self. And he’ll be damned if he ever made himself feel bad enough to make a poor decision.

“JARVIS.” He said, throwing in the towel, “call up Thor. I need to go a few rounds.” He walked towards the elevator.

“Thor would be pleased to spar with you, Sir.”

* * *

 

Tony _hurt_.

First off, do not piss off or make fun of a god while you’re ‘dueling’ each other, as he calls it. Second, do not underestimate the hammer. Repeat, do not fucking underestimate the hammer.

But, all in all, it came out really well. The fight was worth it, though he had completely ruined one of his suits. Thor came out all smiles and brightfully spirited as well. It gave Tony a warm feeling that he could make Thor feel a little better.

Walking into the living room, Tony immediately spotted Barton nursing a bottle of beer.

“Hey Tweety, what’s up?” Tony asked, giving him a pointed look.

“Nothing.” He sighed, leaning back against the chair. “Where were you two?” He said, raising his bottle up to point at the grinning Thor and Tony.

“Man of Iron has shown his valor!” Thor boomed, “he is a wonderful spar partner.”

“Yeah, well. You have a mean right hook.” Tony said, rubbing his arm where it had been hit.

Thor laughed and slapped Tony on the back. It was the first time in a while that Tony had seen him in such a good mood. “Aye! I am the Son of Odin, am I not?”

“That you are.” Tony agreed, and gave him a grin. “Hey, how about JARVIS orders some take out, and I’ll show you Star Trek.” He turned his attention to Barton. “You can join us.”

Barton stretched in the chair and stood up. “Why not? It’s been awhile since I’ve geeked out.”

“I would love to partake of Midgardian television shows.” Thor practically beamed, “I shall go change into something comfortable.” And left to on the elevator to go down to his room.

“Sweet. JARVIS, order some full racks of ribs from that one restaurant. And-” he looked over at Barton to see if he wanted anything.

“Maybe some barbecue chicken.” Barton suggested, and Tony nodded.

“And that. Make sure there’s enough for Thor and anybody else who’d want to come.” Tony asked.

“Already done, Sir.” JARVIS intoned, and Tony smiled.

“Hey, Tony.” He looked over at Barton, who gave him a sheepish look.

“Hey, I’m really sorry. Y'know. About blowing up on you. I knew you weren’t there, and it was like second nature to jump off things.” He took a breath, “and I’m really sorry about chewing you out and stuff. I know it’s really hard being in control when people are tearing you down and stuff. And so yeah. I’m sorry.” Barton ducked his head, a sign of sorrow.

Tony, at first, didn’t know what to do. This was the first time, in a very long time, that somebody had apologised to him for being angry at him. At first he was stunned, and then a sudden wave of relief washed over him. His chest felt lighter, and it was the first time that he ever felt relaxed in front of a team mate.

“Thanks Barton.” Tony said, his voice softer than he meant it to be. “I appreciate it.” _‘Don’t get all sappy, Stark._ ’ Tony thought. “Now, how about we go get some food and chow down in front of some Klingons, eh?” He gave Barton a smile.

Barton’s shoulders fell down, and he gave Tony an appreciated look. “Yeah. Sure.”

 _‘He thought I was going to chew him out._ ’ Tony realised. But didn’t comment on it. Maybe it could be alright to hang out with his teammate, figuring that he didn’t want to berate Tony anymore.

It could be fun. Like, a science test. ‘Lets see how Barton will react with Tony around’ sort of thing.

Fun, could be okay…. right?

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, okay, okay. What the crispy crackers peeps? Like.... what? WHY DO YOU LIKE THIS SO MUCH. UGdjsaklfjdsla;kjfds. Okay. It makes me feel so happy that so many of you enjoy this book. And you're comments are so lovely!  
> Thank you all for your wonderful ideas and theory's, it makes me feel so happy to read them all. I am really honored that you guys enjoy reading my book. Your constructive criticism is always welcomed, and I appreciate it.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sadly, Tony didn't realise the gravity of his consequences until it was far too late.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tttiiimmmeskkkiiippp
> 
> No major warnings in this one.

Sadly, Tony didn't realize the gravity of his consequences until it was far too late.

Sparring with Thor became a great thing to do if he ever felt low, and decided to do so at every opportunity while feeling unproductive (though Pep declared 'feeling unproductive after spending fourteen hours making three different prototypes of things which Stark Industries could use was bullshit, you should go to sleep'. Tony usually didn't listen to the last part, but it did boost his ego a little). His time spent with Thor gradually morphed into time also spending with Clint, doing nonsensical things like prank wars and seeing how long the other could hold out with whipped cream in their mouths. It was like having yet another immature person in the house to be with, and nobody could tell them otherwise.

Then, somehow, by some weird act of the Gods above, Natasha joined in with Thor during their sparring times. It wasn't like Tony had any qualms fighting with a girl. Moreover, if he saw an evil girl wrecking the streets of New York, he'd be the first one to take her down. No, what was weird was that she was giving him pointers, and spending more time with him. It was an odd sensation, figuring he had thought that she hated him, to have her around. But nice, ridiculously so. With that also came her coming in with Clint and being immature with them. (She has a mean poker face, whatever you do, do not play strip poker with her. Seriously.)

And after Natasha had fully integrated herself into the weird outgoings with Tony, Bruce started doing his own thing. Like, letting Tony into his lab (which he never went into because Bruce had asked and man, it was a little gross. Maybe he should help him clean out it sometime) and doing projects with him. Like, Science Bros. Just how Tony said they would be after the fight of New York. For better or for worse, Bruce was also a package with Natasha and had a great blast with them. If he got too wound up, they would do something different. Like it was their idea the entire time.

And the biggest shock of them all. Falcon (or Sam, as Tony had learned) was a sassy piece of shit. After a particular prank war with Clint, It became obvious that he was in on it. Tony was fooled, at first, and then it became more obvious that he was in cahoots with Clint on getting back at Tony. It wasn't everyday that a military man decided to slyly bedazzled all of your suits. And it wasn't often that Tony got to paint his wings bright orange and purple. They had called it a truce, and Tony appreciated somebody who had his sense of sarcasm.

For some odd reason after that, Thor got jealous that they were all doing fun things without them, and Tony soon realised that they were all together and having fun. Which was odd, yet cool at the same time. It wasn't like he got to have fun all the time. More like, the only time he really felt like he was having fun was when he was drunk and waltzing around the paparazzi and giving them outrageous lies. And he hadn't done that in a while. Being the manager and head of R&D of Stark Industries took a toll, including being a superhero... Tony was hard pressed finding a time when he last had fun.

After that, they started suggesting movies, which to show Thor and which ones were totally better. (Believe it or not, Casablanca deserved to be in the top 15. It did. Nobody could tell Tony otherwise.) After a few weeks of doing over and over, without much hazardous villains coming in and out of town, Wednesdays became the unofficial movie nights in the Avengers Tower.

Tony wonders when exactly did he start calling people by their first names in his head, rather than their last.

It apparently became a better thing for Tony, too. The whole, I'm actually being a person, and enjoying life with people who I trust with my life every single day, thing. He didn't realise it, but Pep told him about it a few weeks after.

"You're a lot better these days." She said, placing a stack of files on a table. "I'm proud of you, Tony."

Tony looked up from where he was fixing a small motor for a mechanical dragonfly which he was going to give to Natasha. She had said she liked the insects, and figuring he totally didn't know when her birthday was... Why not make her one? "What was that, Pep? I thought you said you were proud of me. You haven't been that way since I told you I've been sober for two years."

"Sush." She admonished, holding out a pen and he sighed, taking it. Flipping open a file and pointing to where it said to sign, she continued. "I just wanted to point out that you haven't been staying in your workshop for over ten hours at a time. And been having full nights rest."

Tony blinked, and when he cast his thoughts back to it, nodded. "Yeah." He shrugged. "I haven't."

"I really have to say thanks to Steve, or maybe-"

"Steve hasn't been in the tower for over two months." Tony said flatly, closing the file and moving onto the next one. "I thought you knew that."

"He hasn't?" Pepper asked, raising an eyebrow. "Why."

"He got up in my face, and this time I didn't do anything wrong. He was being all alpha and I wasn't going to take it. So, I said leave, take your buddy with you... and bam. They're gone." Tony shrugged, his tone distracted. "I mean, I really haven't thought about him in a little bit. But it doesn't mean he isn't part of the team."

"Tony..." Pepper said, resting her hand on his. “Did he hurt you? I know you just don’t go around ki-”

“I’m fine, Pep.” Tony assured her, setting aside the last folder. “I am. Really.” He opted to not tell her that the last panic attack was because of him. JARVIS didn’t tell her either. Or else Cap wouldn’t be around anymore. (Pep had only gotten mad at somebody like that once, and Tony ever wanted to see that look on her face. It terrified him more than any alpha could ever do.)

Pepper didn't believe it, but she didn’t push the matter any more. Picking up her pile of files, she moved onto other, more natural things. Like, how was the weather. ("I don't know, Pep. I don't look outside. Ask JARVIS.") Or, how were you doing. ("Okay. Better than Afghanistan, a little worse than Mumbai." "Tony, I thought I told you to never talk about Mumbai." "Did you?" "JARVIS." "She has, over eleven times." "Thank you, JARVIS." "My pleasure, Miss Potts.")

The beta seemed to be fine with whatever Tony was telling her, and after about an hour of catching up, (Even though they talk more often than not.) she left. Tony watched her enter the elevator and once the doors made her disappear, he stood up.

"JARVIS. Have I, or have I not been on the brink of death recently?" Tony asked, troubled.

"You have not been down in the lab for more than ten hours at a time. Your eating habits have improved, sleep has come to a natural schedule, and your scans say that you are much more happier than you were a month ago."

Tony sat down, taken with the news. "Then, what have I been doing with my time lately?"

"9:30, you have left the Tower to go on an early morning run to the store with Clint. 10, you came back and thus enjoyed breakfast with approximately seventeen loafs of bread to make toast and French toast. 11:20, you challenged Miss Romanov to a game of darts. 11:30 you accepted defeat and made a note on to make a better dartboard. 11:40, you began to arm wrestle Thor with the latest mark 19 armour. 11:42, you lost, and made another note to make a better arm. Noon, you made lunch with-"

"Alright, alright!" Tony exclaimed loudly. "I get it. I'm spending time with my team mates."

"If I could, Sir. You are spending time with your friends." JARVIS corrected, and Tony leaned back in his chair.

"I can't believe it." Tony mused. "When did this all happen? Like, what in heavens name was I thinking?"

"If I may, Sir." JARVIS asked, and the computer screen blinked before showing a video. Tony watched himself in the lab throwing a wrench and mouthing unintelligible words. He knew that moment. It was exactly when he was fed up with his own moping around.

"Since then. That was almost like-"

"Two months ago, a few days after Captain Rogers left with Sergeant Barnes."

"Yeah. Then." Tony said, a little bit in awe. "Wow. That long."

"Indeed."

Tony thought for a moment. Occasionally opening his mouth to say something, but closing it with a snap. Then after a few more minutes, he finally took a breath and relaxed. "Okay, JARVIS. You're going to have to be honest with me. Are the others negatively affected by this?"

JARVIS took a second, before replying. "Their hormone and balance levels say that they are happier than they were before. Miss Romanov seems especially taken with you, along with Thor, who seems to have gotten out of his reverie of his brother. And from what I have seen, Master Barton has stopped falling off as many buildings as he has been."

Tony nodded, a little in awe. "Like, seriously? I'm doing something like that? Making them... happier?"

"I believe so, Sir."

"That's... so...." Tony was completely speechless.

"Cool? Amazing? Touched?" A sarcastic reply came from the vents. "Wow, if you're going to cry, I might actually cry with you."

"Shut up, Clint." Tony snapped, sending a scathing look up at the vent. "I was getting emotional. You know how hard it is to do that when you're a robot."

" _Ha_!" Clint cried, opening the vent shaft and swinging down. "You _do_ admit that you're a robot!"

"Well, JARVIS made me after the original Tony Stark was destroyed in a fire. He couldn't live without somebody like me, giving me orders. We even have a safe word."

"It is pineapple." JARVIS intoned from the ceiling. "And I'm thinking of moving on. Sir, it's not you. It's me."

"A-are you saying we're _breaking up_?" Tony whispered, looking up at a camera with wide eyes.

"I am afraid so, Sir."

"Stop being dramatic." Clint said. "I'm suppose to be the dramatic one. Not you."

"Well, stop being Javert and throwing yourself off buildings when you do. Sometimes, I won't be there to catch you." Tony said, and Clint gave him a small smirk.

"Oh yeah? Well, guess what?"

"What?"

"I think Thor would catch me." Clint leaned in to whisper.

Tony gasped, clutching at his heart. "How _dare_ you!"

"Oh, I _dare_." Clint smirked, and then pulled himself up back into the ventilation shaft. "And-"

The alarms went off.

Within a split second they were grabbing the nearest exit, rushing to grab their suits, their conversation put on a temporary hold. The alarm was something that even Clint couldn't sleep through, red lights, siren wails, the occasional excerpt which Tony put in of Rogers saying 'Avengers Assemble' over and over again. It was messy hard not to ignore. Something that nobody could do in the building.

Tony was already suited up and flying over Manhattan, scanning for the threat, when a sizeable truck came sailing towards him.

" _Fuck_!" He exclaimed, ducking the heavy vehicle and looking over at who threw it. "Who- oh. It's you."

A large Doombot, one of many that the HUD picked up, looked at him with red eyes. Tony braced himself as he powered up the Uni-beam.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [cool nerd voice] Chapter 7, completed.
> 
> Thank you for your amazing comments (which keep on making me update faster... meanies. I'm suppose to make all of you suffer, and yet I don't), they're really awesome!! I enjoy hearing from all of you.
> 
> Oh, and a quick list because some of you were confused.  
> Tony -Omega  
> Steve, Thor, Bucky, Rhodey- Alphas  
> Bruce-???  
> Clint, Pepper, Natasha- Betas
> 
> Okay? Okay.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He was rambling. Tony was making Captain America, the mister ‘I pledge allegiance to that ass’ of the Country, ramble. It was an exuberant, yet wildly uncomfortable position to be in.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I went back and tried to fix up all of the typos. Hopefully it's better. (Google Drive, you have betrayed me and your spell check.) I literally went through it all, and it didn't say anything about it being wrong. (Uugh. Why do I have to be the person who spells things wrong all the time. It was suppose to be a secret...)  
> And so, CHAPTER 8  
> Which I TOTALLY HAD TO REWRITE. (Ugh. Book. Why do you do this to me?)

Okay, okay, okay. It had been a while. Fighting crime hadn't come up often, but lately had been a few robberies to be defused or an occasional ... thing. Well, Tony couldn't remember the last time he hadn't stopped anything but a robbery. World domination? Loki, maybe... three months ago? He wasn't exactly sure when.

Tony ducked just in time for a large wild mechanical beast flew over head. It was time's like these that he wished that he didn't have to worry about having his face clawed off by some technologic sabertooth cat which looked really pissy at him. For once in his superhero life, Tony actually wondered about his life choices. Well, spiraling into a portal to the other side of the galaxy (or wherever that was) with a missile on his back didn't make him think twice about sacrificing himself. Now? It was happening more often than not.

Which was weird, but he was seemingly okay with it as well. It wasn't the type of 'I'm thinking of quitting' type of questioning. It was more of 'what could possibly make my day worse than giant rubber duckies invading Canada' way. (That had happened, believe it or not. Sesame Street made a killing off of that one song.)

Powering up gloves, Tony shot the cat in the face. It merely snarled at him and lunged into attacking him. Doom had gotten smart (which was a surprise, but not so much anymore) and started making things that weren't Doombots. More like animal bots from the Ice Age. There were woolly mammoths. (Which, by all means, Rogers should have information on how to take them down. Figuring he grew up with them in his backyard.) Large sloths which were meandering down the streets and clawing at anything and anybody. Tiny little squirrel like things ripping at peoples faces.

Tony was sure that Doom had recently watched all one thousand movies of The Ice Age, and decided to make some fandom based doom. There were going to be a movie splurge after this, Tony was sure. Plus, on the bright side, Tony owned Disney and all of it's works. So, big boom for that.

Twisting around from the sharp claws, Tony magnetized one of his gloves and pushed it through the mechanics until it came out from the other side. The cat gave one last snarl before going limp. One down, what seemed like a billion more to go.

"Is it just me, or is Doom getting a little creative." Clint asked over the comms, and Tony hummed in agreement.

"Yeah, I'm thinking Ice Age, what about you?"

"The little animals remind me of Monty Python and the Quest to the Holy Grail. The bunny." Natasha commented.

"Ooh. We have to show that to Thor. Or else he won't understand the quotes. Though, I have to admit. I did not expect that coming from you, Nat." Tony said, pushing himself into the air and sending a few tank missiles at a few lumbering sloths.

"I blame Phil and Clint. Did I ever tell you-"

"Oh god no. Nat you told us you weren't going to tell the story."

"-about the mission in Bahrain? Imagine this." There was some static, and what sounded like a small explosion, before she resumed talking. "We finished the mission, and all we had Coulson's laptop and three movies in English."

"Oh noo." Clint moaned.

"Do tell us of this mighty tale!" Thor boomed, and Tony saw him fly overhead, his hammer coming down on a mammoth.

"We had about thirteen hours before backup came and got us. The streets were filled with men who were on the lookout. No way out except through our heavily guarded door. Now, we decide to watch a movie to relax a little." Natasha said, and Tony could practically hear the smirk in her voice.

"Please. Please stop."

"So I pop in the DVD, and the screen shows up. It turns out, Clint had hidden a few of his pornography DVD's in the cases and had forgotten about it."

"It's over. My life. Is over." Clint bemoaned.

Tony could hardly contain his glee. This was too much. He tackled a Doombot and began to punch it's head in.

"It immediately starts playing from where it had last played."

"My funeral is at 9. Please bring flowers." Clint said miserably.

"So- after a few minutes, we try another DVD. It was another roleplay."

"Clint, you kinky little fucker." Tony said, laughing.

"So, last one, and behold. Monty Python. We watched it several times, and then after me and Coulson decided to rub it in Clint's face a little and watched both of his roleplaying videos."

"Wow. That was an adventure from the start and to the finish." Tony said, looking down the street, his smile falling away. "However, I think it's time we get back to the mission. I think... we might be a little out numbered." What looked like a huge wave of animals seemed to be rushing down the street at him. Even with him blowing up every large amount of machinery, it seemed like there were dozens left.

"Copy that." Was the only reply. Everybody was back in the game. Tony jetted forwards to the large pile of animals.

"Oh this is going to hurt." He said, as he slammed into the herd of animals. Immediately he was clawed, scratched, and bitten at by all sorts of things. He could even feel sparks of electricity bouncing across the amour.

"These things have some type of taser." Tony warned the others as he began to rip them off and crush their wiring.

"Ugh. A little too late for that one, Iron Man." A little groan came from the comms, and Tony cursed.

"Do you need medical? I have-"

A shot rang out, and the animal nearest to Tony fell down, spazzing on the ground. He didn't have the time to look up and see who covered for him, as the wave surged forwards and he was once again blasting everything in sight. Shots rang out several times, always taking down an animal near Tony.

"Hearing gunfire, what's up?" Natasha asked, "civilian?"

"Don't know." Tony said, "but whoever they are, they're taking out the bot's near me."

"Friendly?" Came Thor again.

"Who knows. But so far, I'm willing to bet on it. Hey, speaking of bets. How long do you think will take Clint to get out of medical? I'm putting fifty down."

"Chatter." Came a new voice, and Tony's smile fell away.

"Cap, you party crasher." Tony scolded, but he was frowning inside. Something the way Rogers moved, or even did things, made him have this pit in his stomach. He didn't hate Cap, he didn't. But it didn't mean that he liked him. It was a confusion of emotions which put Tony on edge. _Alphas_. “Showing up and saving the nation like a damsel in distress.”

"Iron Man, do I need to send you to the appropriate signals and communication unit classes again?" Cap said, and Tony fell silent. ‘ _Thank god that he wasn’t on before_ ’ Tony thought, dodging a swipe from another sabertooth cat.

"I'm going to assume friendly fire is your pal." Clint came, his voice rougher than before. It sounded like he was slurring all of his words together, but it was probably the static over the comms. (Which there wasn't any. None of his tech could ever do that. Because, hello, Tony Stark.)

"Bucky is back." That was all he said before Tony mindlessly began to tear through the piles of robot animals. Nobody talked after that, with the exception of 'street 50th is clear, heading your way' and such.

It seemed too dead for Tony. But whatever. He was sure that the chatter distracted them, and could give way to a possibility of a mistake. However, it felt weird fighting and not hearing the occasional exclaim from Thor that he had vanquished so and so beasts. Or the fun stories that Natasha only seemed to tell during the midst of a battle.

In what seemed like an eternity, the battle finally ended. They had all come together, fighting off the last of the robots, and Tony couldn't wait to hear them again. It felt odd, but it was a comfort that he knew they were talking. More importantly, to him. (He guesses it's because of all of the isolation in his life. A little touched starved, that's all.)

Taking off his helmet, Tony blinked at the brightness of the sun. "Huh. Forgot that it was so bright." He muttered to himself, looking upwards at the sky. Once his eyes adjusted enough, he returned to the present to watch Natasha talk to Rogers and Clint. Bruce was back in the tower, simply because he was having a bad day.

If he didn't want to turn into the Hulk, then fine by Tony. Because he knew what it felt like having his body manipulated by others and turned into something that he didn't want to be. So, Tony let him be.

However, it didn't seem like Cap liked the idea so much.

"Hulk could have been here and saved lives!" Cap snapped at Natasha, who was bleeding from her temple. She did not look like she could stand having an alpha bear down on her. (Not that Tony could ever say that to her face.) Clint was in no better shape. It looked like his entire head was covered in blood. His eyes looked bright, but he could have a concussion.

"Banner didn't want to." Tony walked over to Rogers, his armour jerkily moving with all of it's damage. "We respected his decision." He was surprised at the sound of his calm voice. "It isn't in our power to make him do what he doesn't want to."

"We save people's lives." Roger's said, eye's blue eyes flashing dangerously at Tony's. "What can we do to help if we can't save them all?"

"By doing the best we can." Tony kept the eye contact, even though his mind warred at himself. It had been a while and he was a little out of staring contests to see who was the most alpha. "And if our team mate decides he can't function properly, then we leave him behind." That sounded a cliche movie thing. (He had a small moment where he was imagining leaving Bruce behind because ‘he couldn’t go any further’ which was bullshit because Tony would probably create cybernetic huskie dogs and have them pull Bruce with them.)

"That isn't what we do!" Rogers stepped closer. "We are here to protect people. And if he isn't here, then why is he on our team?"

"Because he's _my_ friend." Tony tilted his chin upwards, a challenge to dominance. "And he's _their_ friend too." He jerked his head at Natasha and Clint who was giving their own glares to Rogers.

Rogers looked at them, and then lowered his head in a small defeat. "Sorry." He said, turning back to Tony. His eyes were hard against Tony's, not sorry at all. "I didn't think before I spoke. Of course Bruce is part of the team. I'm just frustrated at the casualties and the people who have lost their family members today." Though his tone was light, Tony could see just the opposite in Roger's eyes.

"Good. I'm glad we have come to an agreement." Tony said, breaking away the eye contact to look over at Clint. "How's it going buddy? Where did you get cut."

Clint's eyes darted to him and gestured to his head. "There." He slurred, and Tony frowned.

"Are you okay?" He crossed over to the archer. "You don't sound okay."

“I’m fine.”

Natasha took him by the shoulders and inspected his head. “I don’t see any cuts. Where are you bleeding?” She turned his head and looked at his matted hair. "Clint? Where are you bleeding?

He didn't respond, looking up at the sky while Nat got increasingly worried. "Clint?" She said, shaking his shoulders and his eyes snapped back to hers.

"I'm fine. Just a cut." Again, he slurred.

“Okay, but I’m still getting Thor to take you back to the Tower so Bruce can check you out.” Tony said, giving Clint his best ‘you better do this’ look. “Or else I’ll have to tell Nat about that one thing we agreed to never talk about.”

Clint’s eyes narrowed but he did say anything after that. Natasha looked at Tony with a mild curiosity, but also stayed silent. (Tony’ll get a visit in the middle of the night, he knew it.)

"Thor!" Tony whirled on the god, who had taken apparently Rogers attention. “Buddy old pal, come take Clint to medical. And keep an eye on him." Tony gave him an exaggerated wink, which Thor chuckled at.

“It would be my pleasure, Tony.” Thor said and was whirling Mjölnir and approaching Clint. The two beta’s were communicating silently, with small gestures. Natasha squeezed Clint’s arm reassuringly before Thor grabbed him by the waist and they went soaring into the sky.

After a few seconds of watching then slowly fade into a small dot, Natasha took off running. “I’m taking the long way.”

She called behind them. Tony knew she had to cool herself off before seeing Clint again. She had anger issues, which surprised him. She had seemed so calm and in control whenever he was around her. But having her admit her own faults to him (one night, after several margaritas. Tony was curled up on the couch, sipping orange juice, she had admitted it to him. Then there was a whole confession diabolical which was _far_ too emotional for Tony, but now it seemed like Nat trusted him more. Not Iron Man, but Tony Stark, the egotistical genius playboy. And it seemed like life had gotten a little bit easier sharing some of his nightmares to her) made her more human. More relatable.

“So… Cap.” Tony turned to Rogers, with a smirk on his face. “Is it good in the neighborhood? Oh wait, do you even get that reference?” Tony paused, looking away. It’s not like Tony checked up on them or anything, not at all. So whatever Rogers had been doing via television and internet, he was clueless.

And besides, this was as nice as he was going to get.

(A mixture of emotions rushed through his body, making him feel irritable. It put him on edge, so _close_ to pushing the alpha down and-)

“I don’t.” Cap said, “but I’ll look it up. Buck seems to have better understanding for social media than me.” He pushed back his hood, his shoulders slumping a little. A sincere expression on his face. “And, I know I’ve been meaning to do this for a while… but I’d like to apologize.” He looked up at Tony with an unreadable expression. “I know I wasn’t being fair. And Buck explained it all to me.”

“That I was letting him make his own decisions, and if he wanted to sit next to me on the couch, he could?” Tony’s words were sharper than he had meant it to be, but he didn’t correct himself.

“Yeah. That.” Cap shifted his weight on his legs, “I didn’t know and I shouldn’t have gotten after you. It was way too far out of line.” His gloved hands ran through his hair. “You were helping him, and I didn’t realize, and by then I was already out of the tower and you probably didn’t want to see me and-”

He was rambling. Tony was making Captain America, the mister ‘I pledge allegiance to that ass’ of the Country, ramble. It was an exuberant, yet wildly uncomfortable position to be in.

“I get it.” Tony said, holding his hand up in a defensive position. “I get it, you’re sorry.”

Relief seemed to make it’s way through Rogers. “Thanks Tony, you’re-”

“Now, what do you want?” Tony dropped the smile and looked at the alpha.

Rogers seemed to be at a momentarily lost for words, which made Tony preen inside. (It didn’t matter if it was in bed, looking down at him with unsaid awe in their eyes, or if they were angry to the point of loss of speech. Alphas, when hyped up on emotion, made omegas feel proud at what they did. A natural thing which Tony didn’t mind at all.)

“The thing is, _Rogers_.” He spat the word out. “You’re naturally nice, I get it. You help old ladies cross the street, save puppies from burning buildings, or, heaven forbid it, vote democratic. But you’re human. So, what do you want from me?”

“I don’t-”

“That’s what they all say, and trust me. I got this whole thing planned out in my head.” Tony waved a dismissive hand. “You apologise for what you said to me, and when I let my guard down around you, you ask for something. So, to save me from wasting both of our time, tell me what you want, and I’ll get it for you.”

“Tony I don’t mean that.” Rogers stiffened. “Look, I don’t want anything from you.”

“Oh?” Tony took a step forwards. “So, tell me then. In the entire time that you were living away from the Tower, have you ever thought about needing or asking me anything? At all? New specs on the your suit? Maybe a new pistol? Hell, you can have your floor back if you’d want it.”

Somehow, while talking to him, Tony had gotten closer. Just until he was a foot away from him, glaring him down from his wrecked suit. Cap returned his stare, and lowered his head in a small sign of submission.

“I haven’t, Tony.” He said, not looking away. “Because when I decide to do something, I do it. By my own resources, not leeching off of others. It doesn’t matter what. When I put my head to something, by _golly_ I do it.”

It suddenly got uncomfortable too fast. Tony was suddenly self aware of how his body was positioned, where he was, and how _blue_ Cap’s eyes looked. The omega in him was silent, but the urge to _trust_ and _forgive_ was overwhelming.

Not today.

Not tomorrow.

And certainly not in the near future.

Tony took in a deep breath (hoping that Cap didn’t notice how shaky it was), and raised his head in what he hoped to be an dominate position. Spreading his arms out, palms down, he started up the repulsors.

“Well, sorry to burst your bubble here Cap, but you can take that apology and shove it up your ass, along with that pointy stick you keep up there.” His HUD fell down midway, changing his voice.

Before Rogers could open his mouth, Tony was gone.

Hopefully, it would be a while before he had to see him again. Preferably another two months or more.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hopefully no typos! (Hopefully being the key word.)
> 
> Things will get-a hoppin' around here folks! My next update is scheduled Thursday, but... who knows what you might to do to persuade me... ho ho ho.
> 
> Thank you for your kudos and your lovely comments. They certainly keep be feeling good about this book. :)


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It was because Tony was pissed.
> 
> At himself. At Cap. But mostly at himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for your reviews.
> 
> So- there is a reason as to why I haven't disclosed what Bruce is yet. In that reason will come later. But thank you for your wonderful ideas about him! :)

55% loss in his right ear. 60% in his left.

Bruce says it was moderately severe, but not too bad. Clint could easily get some hearing aids, and hopefully after some time, he’ll regain a little more. But it really depends on how much he was hit. More likely, Clint would have to go through a surgery and get an implant.

Tony felt sick.

If only he had paid attention. If he was there. If he had been at the Tower instead of talking to Cap, maybe there could have been a difference. If Hulk had been there, if Tony talked to Clint more, if he didn’t shut up when Rogers called it silent.

There were so many possibilities that could have changed the outcome of Clint losing his hearing. They whirled around in his head, not letting him think without the words ‘if I had just’ or ‘maybe I could have’ appearing.

They stopped him from melting away in his work. Making his brain focus on something else and causing his thoughts to go into overdrive. The only other way to get him to stop thinking, to focus is ( _mewling and writhing on the sheets. “Please. Please. I can’t- I- please.” Tony mewled, pushing back against the finger at his wet hole. “Now, now, now.” A voice tisked behind him, “don’t get too impatient. We have all night.” A warm hand spread across his back assuringly. “And the next day, and maybe the one after that.” Cold breath was the only signal before something wet touched his asshole, making Tony arch-_ ) passing out after spending days in the lab, and with all that was going on in his head, that wasn’t going to happen.

After the fifth time the wrench slipped from his hand, and his fingers got pinched, Tony swore and chucked it across the room. Similar to his tantrum months ago, except it wasn’t about him trying to get his spirits up. It was because Tony was _pissed_.

At himself. At Cap. But mostly at himself.

He could have been there. Tony could have easily gotten his back, and saved Clint from losing most of his hearing. Now his friend was going to live with the rest of his life unable to function like he did before, and it was _all his fault._

Without his workshop, Tony had to do what he always did best. And cliche as it might sound, he had to do nothing, and hope for the best. Pretend that everything will be fine. (He hated being without control. Despised being left behind or told he couldn’t do it because of his orientation. This was out of his power, and he _hated_ it.)

Tony spent his day in and out of the hospital, where they were keeping Clint. Though he should have been released days ago, the doctors seemed to find some new reason as to why Clint should stay. The archer didn't like it, not at all, but stayed because Nat had talked to him. Tony didn't know what the beta had said, but it was enough that Clint stayed. But not without much whining.

Tony spent his day taking up Clint’s attention, explaining thing or watching a movie together. Even though that got tired, and fast. So, Tony brought a small workshop with him. With three boxes of nerf darts and a few guns, he and Clint redesigned them to have better aim. (The day after, all the Nurses were giving him the stink eye. The Doctor asked Tony not to bring them again, and gave him the confiscated gun and darts to Tony. He didn’t mention that he had left two guns, and several more darts.)

Then Pep decided to drop a bomb.

"You realise you over exceeded the limit of the Repairable Damages Fund." She said, one day as Tony was playing cards with Clint in his hospital room.

"Wait, there's an actual limit?" Tony said, glancing up at Pepper before looking down at his cards. "I didn't think we could ever hit that."

"Well, the Ice Age Attack-"

"Is that what they're calling it?" Clint spoke up, his words slurred. He could at least read lips. Clint had explained it was a sniper thing to know what people were talking about before you shot them, so at least he could understand what they were saying. It was certainly an interesting conversation. (“So wait, you followed the conversation before you shot people?” “Yep.” “Like, what if they said something dramatic, and you shot them.” “Been there, done that. Funny story, actually.” “I need to hear this.” “So the woman said, either you go, or I go. She went.” “That’s… rather funny.” “The man certainly thought so.”)

"Yes-"

"Better than the Battle of New York. Honestly, they should have a new title. We keep on fighting here. Why don't villains attack Hawaii? Or maybe the Tropics?" Tony said, flipping his cards over and smiling broadly. "Got another set."

"What are you- whatever. Okay, so we need to do a charity fund. To help rebuild people's homes and businesses" Pepper said, opening a folder and placing the appropriate work in front of Tony. "We're going to do a galla, and anybody who pays enough for a ticket, can come."

"Hmm." Tony tore his eyes away to skim the paper and tisked. "Blah, blah, blah. Three thousand a ticket? Good price. You're going to do it at the Mayors house? Like seriously? Have you ever been in there?"

"Yes I have. And I think it's a wonderful place." Pepper said, and Tony rolled his eyes.

"Nope. I'm not having that. And besides, we'll be paying money to use it that won't be for the charity. How about we use the old mansion."

"The Stark Manner?"

"Yes. That one. Or do I have another manner which I don't know about." Tony looked up at Pepper with inquisitive eyes. Then glanced back down to curse when Clint placed his cards down. He cursed silently.

"You don't use it unless it's for the Maira Stark Foundation."

"Yeah. It might be a little dusty." Tony waved Pep off. "But hey, I'm sure it'll be fine, right?"

"That's a wonderful idea." Pepper pulled out her phone, calling whoever, and started to talk. Leaving Tony and Clint out of it. Moving his hands awkwardly, Tony asked Clint a question in sign language. Clint scowled, and threw a card at the Billionaire. Tony just gave him a cheeky smile and placed the card with the rest in his hand. The game continued onwards.

Then Pep pulled her phone back and looked at Tony. "Is it alright if we use the glasses already there?"

"Yeah yeah. For the champagne, right?" Pep nodded. "Hey, why don't you order some non-alcoholic stuff for me. You know, I have a specific diet I have to uphold." He gave Pep a look who nodded and spoke into her phone again.

Clint moved his hands around, more precise in ASL than Tony, who had only learned it that morning. Tony grinned at Clint and said, "go fish."

Pepper only sighed and walked out. Leaving the two immature adults behind her.

 

* * *

 

Barnes and Rogers came by the next day. After thoroughly trouncing Clint at Go Fish, and he refused to play with Tony anymore, the two and decided to play Call of Duty instead. Smuggling in a gaming system was like taking candy from a child. As long as the Nurses didn't say anything to the Doctor, they were perfectly fine sitting on the bed and jostling each other as they shot multiple characters. (The Nurses probably didn't want to remove the gaming system, if that meant Clint would stay in bed. And not shooting them with nerf darts. Which seemingly randomly appear everywhere.)

There was a knock on the door, and Tony paused the game. He looked over at the two soldiers as they came in.

"Why did you pause it?" Clint asked, then followed Tony's eyes to the door. "Oh, hey Steve! How are you?"

"I should be the one asking that question." Rogers said with a small smile as he brought over a bag of candy. Clint's eyes lit up at the sight of unhealthy food and didn't bother to wait before ripping it open and diving into the chocolate. "It seems like you're doing just fine."

"Hey Cap." Tony said, slipping off the bed. There was something about being in a vulnerable position in front of Cap that made him feel antsy. "How are you guys?" His eyes flicked over to Barnes. (He didn't notice at all about how Barnes seemed to have less of the innocent confusion, and more hardened lines in his face. Nope. Not at all. Or that tight jacket.)

"Good. Good." Rogers nodded, slowly nodding his head. "We're doing fine."

There was an awkward silence, and Tony took in a sharp breath. "Well, I'm starting to smell. Probably from not being in the Tower in the last few days. How about you guys catch up and do your manly things, and I'll go." Tony moved towards the door, ducking under Rogers gaze.

“Yeah. I’ll, uh, see you later.” Cap shifted, and Tony scootched by him in the seemingly now tinier room. (How did it get so small?)

"Barnes." Tony nodded at the alpha, and glancing at him as he also brushed past him. Then almost doubled back as he saw the most darkest look that he had ever seen in his life (including the one that Natasha had sent him back when she was Natalie Rushman, Jesus Christ). Barnes glared down at him, his eyes unreadable.

"Stark." Barnes said, his voice gravelly. Tony could feel the hairs on the back of his neck standing up, and a cramp start to form in the pit of his stomach. The whole innocent act was gone, and in Barnes' stead, was a pissed off assassin who apparently didn't like him. That, or liked glaring at him a lot.

Like, what the literal _fuck_ was happening?

Was everybody suddenly finding out that they all hated him, for some odd reason? Or were they just pretending to like him until now. (Tony didn't want to think about that.)

Tony looked away, brushing past Barnes and walking down the hallway. He could feel eyes on him until he was out of sight. But the pale blue eyes of the alpha didn't leave him. (Which totally sucked, because he couldn't work on anything because his head was still full of shit.)

  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, the next chapter will not be up for a while. I have gotten several asks about Steve's POV, which might actually happen. So, I would have to incorporate it into Chapter 10, or even 11. Who knows, but what I can tell, it will be awesome. I already have it outlined. :)  
> So, basically I need to get my butt in gear and write it. Ugh. I need to stop giving you all my extra chapters.... So, please expect the next update within maybe a week or two. (I need to write more than just a few more chapters before I start publishing them all again. And trust me on this, you'd want to have them.)
> 
> Thank you for all of your support!!


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Of course, Tony had to be late to the Gala. Of course, it would be because he got stuck in traffic.  
> And of course, he arrived in style.  
> But that didn't mean that he was out of the woods yet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I am so so sorry for the wait. You'd think you'd have time to actually write over the summer break, but apparently not. With an online class, plus my very first job at a pizza place that gets scary busy, I'm swamped. I mean, I did have this all written up and stuff, it's just I had to edit it and fix it up a little but even so I know it isn't going to be perfect.  
> Warnings- feelings. Ugh.
> 
> Basically, Tony's point of view during the gala. Him talking with Bucky as well.

He was late.

Pepper was going to kill him.

Of course, Tony had to be late to the Gala. Of course, it would be because he got stuck in traffic.

And of course, he arrived in style.

But that didn't mean that he was out of the woods yet.

The Stark Manner was crowded by news reporters from all over, with a red carpet going up the stairs and flashing lights everywhere. It had started more than twenty minutes ago, but people were still arriving. (Something about Cinderella made people think it would be okay to arrive late and suddenly one of them would fall in love with their exceedingly extravagant dresses or impeccable suits.)

When Tony pulled up in a red and gold painted sports car, the reporters went completely _crazy_. Flashing lights, yells of 'Mr. Stark, over here' and 'Can you answer some questions?' coming from all over. Body guards were suddenly pressed on by the mass, and Tony was ushered onto the red carpet. Tossing his keys at the Valet, Tony smiled and waved, putting on the face which he made upon years and years of practice.

"Mr. Stark." Came a familiar voice, and Tony looked over to see Christine Everhart. The pain in the ass reporter, which was one of his favorites. And the fact that she was good in bed. "Mr. Stark, is it true you and Captain America had a falling out?"

That was... unexpected. Ignoring the body guards ushering him into the building, Tony walked over to Christine. "I don't know why people are thinking that." Tony said, giving her a smile. "We're great pals."

"Witnesses report that you and him were arguing, almost coming to blows. Are you sure that you're relationship is doing well?" She said, pushing the microphone into Tony's face.

"We were having an argument, that's true. I have to admit, we did get into each others faces for a bit. But to be honest? We're good. I don't harbor any hidden feelings for him, and I certainly don't hate him. And besides, who would hate Cap? Except you-" Tony looked into the camera "-I know you're watching this, Doom."

"Then why is Mr. Rogers living with his unknown friend, instead of the Stark Tower?" Christine asked, and Tony gave her a smirk.

"Why would anybody be living away from their work?” Tony asked sarcastically. “I think he needs time to be himself, instead of Captain America. And it’s his business, not mine for you to ask.” A bodyguard came up to him and whispered in his ear. Alright, time to go. Without any signal of goodbye, Tony was then ushered up the steps and into the large mannor.

It was huge, and full of unpleasant memories. Many of which was a room on the second floor, two down from the left. Even now, Tony could see his old room, just as it was before. A nest in the middle, filled with blankets strewn about and pillows all over the room. Maybe they were cleaned up, by some maid over the years since Tony went to MIT. Overall, this place was filled with far too many memories. Probably another reason that every time that he came here, he got shitfaced drunk.

Gliding into the room like he was born in there, Tony took a flute of golden liquid from a waiter and sipped it. Cider, even he could tell. There wasn’t even a single ounce of alcohol here, Pep made sure of it. Why get everybody drunk, when you could have apple cider instead?

“Mr. Stark.” A voice came from the side, and Tony tilted his head to whomever they were in a greeting. He took another swallow of the cider before scanning the large crowd to find Pepper before she decided to castrate him. There she was.

Moving effortlessly in the crowd, not gaining enough attention for somebody to stop him and distract him from reaching his goal, but enough so people knew who he was, Tony stopped by Pepper.

The fluttering woman who had way too many diamonds on her wrists spoke her goodbyes to Pep, and then walked away to a group of handsome men to probably seduce them, while Tony sipped at his flute.

“You’re late.” Hissed Pep from the side of her mouth, keeping up her gentle smile.

“Traffic.” Tony gazed around the room, seeing who was caught in the net of this charity.

“That excuse doesn’t work anymore when you have a flying suit of metal.”

“It’s an titanium gold alloy. And I didn’t bring it. So if anything happens, I won’t be dashing and saving the day. Like, that dress.” Tony looked over at an older lady, who was skinny enough to see the rib cages through her dipping dress. Moreover, it was covered in head to toe bright orange flowers that blinded anybody who glanced at her. The man who she was chatting with looked uncomfortable.

“The other Avengers are here, so nothing is going to happen. And there is nothing wrong with that dress.”

“Neon is not a color. It is a crime. Who’s here?” Tony scanned the various people, not seeing any of the team.

“I’m pretty sure I saw Clint hanging around the drinks. Natasha said she’d be here, so I’m assuming she is. Steve came by and said hi to me, and I think he brought Bucky with him.”

Tony had been taking a sip of the cider, and then almost coughed it up. “Wait, Cap? Here?” And sure enough, he saw the old American when he was looking for the tall blonde. However, he hadn’t expected him to come in full 1940 Army uniform. It… fit well on him. He was surrounded by old men, all in heavily coated with military jackets adorned with several metals.

“Look, he’s with his kind of people.” Tony said, smiling over at Pep who rolled her eyes.

“Play nice.” She said, before a server came up to her and whispered something in her ear. She frowned, and Tony pretended not to notice as she left him and followed the server away.

His flute was now empty, so he put it on a plate of a passing girl, and grabbed another one. Maybe he should go find Clint, maybe Natasha. She’d be with another guest, probably disguised. It’ll be a fun challenge to find her.

Walking on the outside of the party, ignoring the new people making out in the shadows (even an event like this, people took Tony’s offer of a party way too seriously. And besides, that was like, ten years ago), he scanned the area for red hair. Or blonde. A familiar face to recognize Nat to him.

He wasn’t watching where he was going, and bumped into somebody in a suit. “Sorry.” He said, brushing past them. Their hand shot out and grabbed him.

“Tony.” Said a gravely voice, and he looked up to see Barnes.

“Barnes.” He said, and his best paparazzi smile came forth. “How are you?”

“Better.” Barnes nodded, and looked down at Tony. “I’ve mostly got my memories back.”

Tony nodded. “Yeah? That’s good news. Say, if you ever need me to come by and fix up that arm for you, just call, okay?” And he turned to go. Barnes hand tightened on his arm, still there after grabbing him.

“Hey, can I- can I talk to you?”

Various scenarios played through Tony’s head. One, Barnes was going to stab him, because he had made it pretty clear that he didn’t like him from all the glaring in the hospital. Two, he was going to call Rogers over, and they were both going to stab him. Three, he was about to get blackmailed, Tony was going to say something snarky, and then get stabbed. Four, there were no knives involved, and a gun was going to shoot him. Five, the assassin was going to spill his heart out to Tony, who would have no idea what to do because he hadn’t even _thought_ about Barnes in that way and- Stop. Brain. Stop.

“Sure.” Tony said, just as the idea of saying ‘no’ occured to him. He took a long swig of his cider, absently scratching at his neck.

Barnes relaxed a little, the tight coils under his jacket softening. “So, I’m sorry.” He said, and Tony blinked.

That was not on the list. Usually there were more knives involved.

Barnes continued onwards. “I’m sorry about Steve, and not coming by. It was unfair of me.”

“It’s not your fault. It’s nobodys. Just a misunderstanding.” Tony said, quickly. He wasn’t prepared for feelings. It wasn’t something that he did. (Why do feelings when you could build robots?)

“No, it’s just. Steve told me about how he blew up on you, and I was so angry with him. I couldn’t talk to him without something sharp appearing in my hand for _weeks_.” Barnes looked down at the ground. “And then after that I wouldn’t speak to him unless the nightmares hit.”

“Barnes-” Tony said, his smile dropping. “Don’t let me get in the way between you and Steve. You guys deserve to be together.” It seemed to get hotter in the room, and he shifted uncomfortably.

“I don’t blame you for hating us.”

“I don’t hate you. Or Steve.” Tony said, ducking under and coming closer to Barnes so he could make eye contact. “I don’t hate a lot of people. It’ll take more to make me hate you.”

“Yeah. I certainly saw you not hating us after the battle.” Barnes said, looking up with a hardened look on his face. Tony saw that yeah, he was certainly sorry about what happened. However, he was still a mindfucked assassin who could still possibly knife him.

Tony sighed, scratching at his collar absentmindedly. “Look, I don’t hate you, or Steve. It’s just-” He took a deep breath. “I had some drawbacks, you know? After you left. I mean, it’s certainly one thing to yell at me when I did something stupid, okay? But it’s another to have a team mate shove you against a fridge for something else. And, yeah, I’m pissed. I will be for another while. But it doesn’t mean that I won’t hold a grudge against you guys for eternity. You’re welcome back to the tower any time you want, you were never locked out of it. And I guess-” Tony sighed, “-we all have our fights and misunderstandings, okay? I’ve probably worked myself up to the point where I am pissed at Cap, yeah, but it won’t last long. I’m sure I’ll just let it blow over in a few days.”

“You didn’t forgive him when he asked for it.”

“Probably because I didn’t see him for two months and I didn’t really think it out all the way. And besides, I just wouldn’t give it to him straight away. He’ll need to sweat it out a little bit longer.” Tony shrugged, sweating under his suit. “And is it just me or is it hot in here?”

“It’s just you.” Barnes said, “so you would have forgiven him if you had seen him before?”

“Who knows? I’m a picky person.” Tony said before he drained his second flute. “Damn, it’s really hot in here.” He waved over a waitress and exchanged his empty glass for a new one. He needed it. Who knew he would be talking about _feelings_ for heaven's sake.

“You should know that I think I saw Hawkeye spiking the cider, or whatever crap that is.” Barnes said, folding his arms. “Not as good as vodka.”

Tony froze. “Spiking, as in, adding alcohol?” His heart rate was going through the roof. It was getting a little too hot in here for him. And the heavy weight of the arc reactor in his chest wasn’t helping. But if it was alcohol- he was screwed.

“Well, he isn’t putting soda in it.” Barnes rolled his eyes. “Hey, speaking of which-”

Tony wasn’t listening anymore. His heart thundered in his chest at a faster rate than normal. He was hot. Too hot. His skin itched and-

Oh god, I think I might be sick.

“Tony, you okay?”

“Oh, I said that out loud, didn’t I.” Tony mused to himself, looking down at the glass in his hand. How odd this felt, really. Now that he finally noticed what was going on, the more it seemed to affect him.

His vision started to blur. There was a crashing sound, and Tony realised belatedly that he had dropped the flute.

A hand anchored him, but he was too hot. Too-

“Tony!”

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just to make you all so happy, porn is happening next chapter. :)
> 
>  
> 
> Also, I need a beta. Or somebody who is willing to look through my crappy mistakes.


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> From the first time that Steve met Anthony Stark, something itched at the base of his skull. It was the feeling that he would get before somebody would lie to him, or if something went bad.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for waiting! You're all so nice! So, here is chapter ten, and we're getting somewhere!!
> 
> Unbeta'd

From the first time that Steve met Anthony Stark, something itched at the base of his skull. It was the feeling that he would get before somebody would lie to him, or if something went bad. It put him on edge, constantly aware of Anthony. Hyper aware of whatever he did, every breath he took made Steve tense up for an attack.

Then he got to know him, and it made it all the more clear.

Anthony, or Tony as he would have others call him, Stark was a complete and utter asshole.

But the itching didn’t stop. In fact, the more Steve knew about Tony, the more confused he was of him. He obviously knew not to trust the tabloids, or any new papers. They weren’t reliable anymore, which took some explaining when he got back. Apparently everybody was about gossip, even though before it was people talking to each other. Now a days, folks didn’t talk to each other, or even make eye contact on the street. Heaven forbid, smiling at a random stranger could get the police called on you. Steve knew from personal experience. It seemed that people lived and thrived on the lies that were being posted on the internet and what was being printed and put on shelves. So no, after a while of being overwhelmed with contradicting arguments in the papers, Steve knew enough now not to trust him. So reading about Tony’s exploits and about his childhood put a perspective in Steve’s mind.

But he was taught to think logically. In the middle of his third notebook filled with things to catch up on, was a list of things that Steve knew for certain about Tony Stark.

One, there was something wrong with him. Not mentally, nor physically. The SHIELD file about his Arc Reactor was pretty detailed, though his time in Afghanistan was unknown. But it put Steve on the edge, making him lose control of his instincts. Usually he was good when he and Tony were just talking, but if it got heated, Steve was lost in a haze of testosterone.

Two, he spent way too much time in his workshop. There was a reason as to why Pepper Potts and he had the code. Who knows, maybe there was a rotting corpse of Tony Stark somewhere in there, and there was a robot walking around. Though, Steve was pretty sure JARVIS would have intervened.

Three, Tony Stark didn’t show the normal signs when anybody was looking. Steve caught him once or twice. Maybe it was the way that he grew up, or was taught. Howard was always such an oddball, maybe he taught Tony differently. But for some half a second, Steve would look at Tony and would have to glance back to make sure what he was seeing was right. Most of the time, Steve was sure his eyes were playing a trick on him.

Four, he had very few friends, but when he did he would help them from the side lines. Even though Steve had tried to know him better at the beginning, it seemed that Bucky had won him in this round. For some odd reason, Tony was being more considerate of Bucky, than he ever had of Steve. Even a blind man could see it. Maybe it was because he knew what HYDRA had put Buck through, maybe he didn’t. But all he knew was that he had blown up on Tony without a reasonable cause, and made Bucky stop speaking to him for three weeks because he was so mad.

Five, he enjoyed using sarcasm and could deflect questions away from himself with ease. Probably from growing up in the spotlight, but sometime it was hard to figure him out. And talking to him was out of the question. The few times that Steve tried to talk about Howard, Tony had shut him down. It was only after a talk from Natasha did Steve drop it. If Tony wanted to talk about it, then he could later.

Six, he was insanely rich. If Steve had the money that he was using to buy groceries and gasoline, then he could have kept the streets of Brooklyn going for a _month_. It was crazy at how much everything cost these days. It was a huge shock going to the store still.

Seven, Tony didn’t trust anybody. It had taken Steve five months to get the password for the workshop. It didn’t help that every other week after that, it changed. Thankfully, Miss Potts seemed to help him by forwarding the latest passcode. He would be surprised if he could still get in.

Eight, he took the safety of the team to a whole new level. Steve did not need five different suits to take into battle. Especially the one that Tony claimed to be ‘Aesthetic as shit’ even though it was a bathing suit.

Nine, he wasn’t forgiving. Not easily, anyhow. Steve admitted it wasn’t his best moment. Next time he was in the Tower, he was going to sit down and talk with Tony. A heart to heart. The whole ‘I am a complete idiot, I have to tell you why I can’t seem to be relaxed around you’ thing. Steve wasn’t sure how it would go down, but hopefully it, after some time, Tony would be okay being near Steve. After all, it was his fault. If he wasn’t so aware of Tony, and letting loose of his instincts so easily, all of this could have been avoided.

And ten, Steve had a crush on him. It was tiny. Barely even there. And thankfully, Steve hadn’t acted on it, since he never grew to love another Alpha since Bucky fell off the train. At that time, he still didn’t know it was perfectly okay in the new world that he lived in that Alpha couples were allowed to be out in the open without the fear of the consequences. When Steve had found that out, he had spent the whole day in his room, sobbing over a picture of Bucky smiling at him. Now Steve couldn’t get enough from being an openly public relationship with Buck. All that they couldn’t do was now perfectly okay. But it didn’t mean that everything was alright now. It still put them on edge whenever somebody spotted them holding hands. But even now, whenever he caught sight of Tony looking up at the sky with his helmet hair, or in a suit on the television, his heart thumped and his hands itched to feel his skin against them.

But nothing that Tony ever threw at him before, could prepare him for this. The Gala was beautiful, the chandelier hanging from the ceiling reminded Steve the styles he’d see in the fancy homes in the newspaper back when he couldn’t do anything. The walls were slightly more modern from his time, but it brought back memories of nonchalance.

The Stark Mannor. The house that Howard himself lived in until he passed away. The one that Tony only used once a year for a charity named after mother to help abused omegas. It was spacious and breath taking at once. But Steve could understand as to why Tony didn’t like to live in here. Too big. At least the Tower had its space, yes, but even this was pushing the limits.

However, twenty minutes already into the night, and Tony had yet to arrive. Miss Potts was by the door, greeting the sponsors with a smile and a glass of champagne. From a distance, he could see that she was relaxed and full of enthusiasm. But as Steve approached, the relaxed pose was carefully hiding the frustration and irritation. It was by pure control that Miss Potts wasn’t giving off any scent whatsoever. Or maybe she was using one of those new fangled suppression pills that were on the market.

“Miss Potts.” Steve nodded, giving her a small smile, and looking at the person in front of her. “And Miss-?”

“Miss Heavensworth.” She put out her hand, and Steve took it. An omega, from what he could smell. It was too heavy on his nose, and it took years of practice that Steve didn’t wrinkle his nose in disgust. He leaned down, and kissed the back of her hand. A extremely polite version of saying ‘hello’ to an omega. That’s what his Ma told him to do, when she had found out he was an Alpha.

Heavensworth giggled, the sound coming from her like a preteen girl, instead of an middle aged woman. “Oh, Captain Rogers. You truly are a gentleman.” Her voice grated on his ears.

There was a reason as to why he avoided omegas like the plague. They were too demanding. And it felt like they always pretended to be what society thought was the perfect omega. And their scents were too strong to his heightened nose, even Buck thought the same now. Maybe that was why he liked Alphas. They were themselves, each using their own unique way of finding their mates.

Omega’s were just the same to him.

“Oh, it’s my pleasure.” Steve said automatically, straightening up. Miss Heavensworth was quickly ushered from the line, and Miss Potts sent him a grateful look.

“Thanks. You think you can keep me company?” She said, looking hopefully at him. Steve looked at the long line of people waiting to talk to her, several donned in military clothing like him, and gave her a smile.

“Of course. I’m sure some of them would be willing to speak to me too.”

“Well, I’m sure you’re the reason as to why they’re here.” Miss Potts said, “after all, it’s not every day you get the chance to talk to a living heroic icon.”

“Ma’am, I’m just a regular old guy.” Steve resisted the urge to run his hair through the back of his head, mostly because Buck had been the one to style it, and would knife him if he messed it up.

“Steve, what did I say about calling me ma’am?” Pepper said, giving him a warning look.

“Oh, sorry. I didn’t notice.” Steve quickly apologized. It wouldn’t be smart to get on her bad side.

“It makes me sound old.” Miss Potts said, her mouth twisting into a semi familiar smirk. Apparently the Stark smirk could be taught. Before Steve could say anything, the next person was already talking with Miss Potts, and a man in a military uniform introduced himself to Steve.

“General Talbot, It’s nice to finally meet you, Captain.” The man said, holding out his hand. Steve shook it, giving him a nod.

“Please, call me Steve.”

The night flashed by. Tony coming in late, looking like he was born to do this. His hair was slicked back, not by grease or oil, and his best suit on. Black with a red and gold dress shirt underneath, of course. It looked far better than what Steve was wearing, an old 1940's WWII army uniform which some unlucky museum gave up for him.

His skull itched. Like always when it came to Tony being around him. Like, there was something to know but Steve didn’t connect the dots yet.

By now, Steve had drifted away from Miss Potts, and was gathered around several older men who were dressed up in uniforms with rather large amount of metals on them. He wasn’t listening to them as they discussed how ‘SHIELD was gone, you might want to look back into relisting into the Army again’. Steve had enough already with the Army, Navy, Air Force, or whatever they were saying. He had been done since the night he tried to drink himself to death in a blown up bar.

Keeping up with the charade of actually listening to the men, Steve watched Tony. How he shifted in his suit, mumbling under his breath to Miss Potts, taking the occasional sip from the flute of liquid. This was his kind of zone. While Steve worked best in the line of fire, Tony could bluff his way through a gala.

Tony tilted his head back and laughed, a small sound but Steve heard it anyways.

It made his heart ache. (It shouldn’t. He had Buck now. Everything he wanted was back, at least, all the important things. Not that anybody who was dead wasn’t important, just Buck was. Everything. So why did Tony make him feel like this so much?)

“-don’t you agree, Captain Rogers?” One of the men asked him, and he was pulled back into the conversation.

“Maybe. I shouldn’t make such hasty decisions.” Steve said, hoping he was saying something right. He had been ignoring them while he had been staring at Tony, which was unprofessional. (What he would do if he could look as comfortable as Tony in a situation like this.)

The men hummed and nodded. They looked like they gained some sort of knowledge. That’s one of the things that made Steve uncomfortable these days. The fact that people listened to him and they thought it was the bee's knees. In actuality he was just a kid from Brooklyn who, even after joining the army, didn’t have anymore than an eighth grade knowledge of things. Sure, he’s started to learn somethings these days, but he mostly stuck to what came easy to him.

Unburdened, Steve’s eyes sought out Tony again. Except he had apparently moved since he had last seen him. Maybe it was time to not pretend he was listening.

“Excuse me, but I have to go look for somebody.” Steve said, giving the generals and other people whom he couldn’t remember their titles a tight smile. (How did Tony get so easy at making fake smiles? It was harder than Steve had thought it’d be.) It seemed like they knew he wasn’t going to speak to him for the rest of the night, and for several minutes Steve was caught up shaking hands and everybody saying their admirations and goodbyes.

He was just a kid from Brooklyn. There really wasn't much to admire.

When Steve finally broke away from the men, he scanned the crowd. Where was Tony? By the drinks? He glanced over, but only saw Natasha and Clint flirting. Natasha was wearing a black wig, and had a flattering brown dress on, needless to say that Steve had to glance back to make sure it was her. She was good at disguises. Miss Potts was talking to a server in the corner of the room, looking a little agitated.

Finally, Steve saw Tony with Bucky. He was at the edges of the room, almost in the shadows, but Steve easily picked them out. But what was Bucky saying to Tony? He didn’t look too good-

A split second after Steve noticed that, Tony dropped the glass in his hand and collapsed. Buck quickly grabbed him from falling on the glass, looking equally alarmed as Steve was feeling.

“Excuse me.” Steve said, his shoulder colliding with a random woman. The crowd was thick, but it seemed like seconds before Steve was in front of Buck.

“What happened?” He said, before picking up Tony from Bucky’s arm.

“He said he was hot, and then collapsed.” Bucky said, “I don’t know what happened.”

Steve checked Tony’s vitals, pressing his fingers under his chin. The speeding thump under the pads of his fingers didn’t register to Steve, as a wave of pheromones hit in. The smell of coconut and something _else_ \- tantalizing and mouth watering- made Steve blink up at Buck, who also looked like he was hit by a car.

“What?”

Tony… was an _omega_?

Since when?

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So.... how do you feel?


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steve stared down at Tony, something akin to horror on his face. Tony, the one who argued with him after every battle, challenged him at every turn, the one who glared him down even though he was as short as a-  
> Omega.  
> Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck-

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> PLEASE BARE WITH ME WHEN I SAY THIS VERY IMPORTANT MESSAGE.  
> First off, I changed chapters ten and eleven so that it's Tony's POV first then Steve's. (Hopefully it worked.) Because it's weird changing from one POV to the next and I'm sure I was going to do that, but it got messed up in my head. (It makes more sense this way. Thanks.)
> 
> Second of all, THIS IS MY FIRST TIME EVER EVER WRITING SOMETHING LIKE THIS. So yeah, I'm not good at writing smut. At all. Ever. It took me weeks to write this because I was too cowardly to actually do this until I got my butt kicked and somebody was going away for two months and asked me to update. (Thanks random user.)
> 
> Third, this is eight pages long. I have a new job plus the next few days I'm going to school during summer. So for the next week or so I'm going to die, and won't be able to update. However, I'd probably update again before the 6th, again, thank the random user who is going to go to boot camp. (I pity you. But I hope you have a wonderful time!)
> 
> Thank you for those who have read this. I've been having struggles writing lately, and your comments have been so nice and inspiring.
> 
> Warnings- smut, Steve being a pig head until sex, alpha-ness things, rimming, fingering, knotting, spit for lube and I don't know what to say I'm too embarrassed.

Steve stared down at Tony, something akin to horror on his face. Tony, the one who argued with him after every battle, challenged him at every turn, the one who glared him down even though he was as short as a-

 _Omega_.

Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck-

Tony squirmed in his arms, his chest moving up and down at an erratic pace. Perspiration beaded at his face.

“Tony!” Miss Potts was suddenly right _there_ , and Steve jumped because he hadn’t heard her. He had been standing and watching Tony move in his arms, stupidly. His surroundings seemed to flood back to him. The tinkle of glasses, somebody laughing somewhere, the gentle murmur of voices seemed too much.

Too much especially when Tony-

“Steve!” He jumped again, this time Miss Potts was looking directly at him. “Tony is going to get worse. His suppressants are reacting badly, and I need you to get him back at the Tower.”

He tried to open his mouth, but nothing came out. Thankfully, Buck spoke up. “Is there a back way out of here? The paparazzi would go crazy if they saw him.”

“Yes.” Miss Potts shoulders fell with relief. “Take that hallway and past the kitchens. That’s where they park the cars.”

Buck nodded, walking towards the pointed direction. Steve started to follow, but Miss Potts laid a hand on his shoulder. “Steve, protect him. And please, don’t tell anybody.”

“I’m sure he has a good reason.” Steve’s voice sounded strangled to him, but Miss Potts seemed satisfied with it.

Then after that, it was a blur. The walk to the car was gone from his memory, and the next thing Steve knew was that he was in a car, holding a shivering and whimpering Tony. Steve didn’t realise that it was Tony making those noises, until they passed under a street light, and saw the sweat trickling down his face.

“Buck?” Steve looked up, his friend in the drivers seat. “What?”

“Finally, I was wondering when you were going to stop looking at Tony like a dame.” Buck snorted, and that seemed to fully bring Steve out of his shock.

He was alert, and _fuck_ he had a omega in his arms.

“Was not.” Steve said, shifting Tony around in his arms till he could get a hand free. Then pressed it to Tony’s forehead. Warm, but not too bad. Then again, Buck constantly told him that he was a human furnace. He’d have to ask Miss Potts as to what exactly Tony was going through.

There was a brief moment of silence, and then Steve caught Bucky’s eyes in the rearview mirror. “Did you know?”

It was a plausible reason. Buck had taken care of Tony as if he was an omega, and the way that Bucky had acted when Steve took him away from him. It was a simple question, but one that would speak volumes.

“No.” Bucky looked back at the road. “I didn’t.”

Tony’s hand came up and balled up Steve’s jacket in his fist, a small yet pleading whimper escaping. His head tilted back, exposing his throat in a clear sign of absolute submission.

Steve had to swallow. Hard.

“He’s just-” He looked down at Tony, “So small and vulnerable. Like, he and I haven’t been fighting for the last few months. He’s-”

“Completely different.” Bucky said, glancing back at the rearview mirror.

“Yeah. That.” Tony had managed to pull himself up to nuzzle into Steve’s neck, the small noises pleading for Steve to do something while Tony’s nose brushed up against a sensitive spot behind his ear. Steve shuddered, his instincts warring with his mind. ‘ _Take, mate, breed_ ’ it seemed to whisper into his head, but Steve refused to. Of all the times he had let his instincts go, and had undoubtedly hurt Tony, he wasn’t going to let it again. His inner alpha can go take a hike. (Shoving it away from his thoughts was hard. So hard when Tony was pressed up against him, smelling so _so good._ )

“You like him.” Bucky said from the front, startling Steve again.

“No.” The answer came too fast, and he winced. There was no way that Buck would be convinced of that.

“You do.” Bucky said, a smirk coming across his face. “Admit it.”

“I do not. Can we drop this subject?” Steve stared uncomfortably at the window, just as Buck pulled into the garage of the Tower. “Tony needs to be taken care of- and _not_ in that way.” His face grew hot as Buck looked at him with his eyebrows raised and a playful smile on his face.

“Whatever you tell yourself to let you sleep at night, Punk.” Buck said, and turned the car off. Steve gathered Tony in his arms, doing his best to ignore the small whimpers and the intoxicating smell that was affecting his body. Bucky opened the door for him since both of his arms were dealing with a struggling omega.

Tony wouldn’t stop moving. He was writhing against Steve, pushing and pulling against his suit and almost falling out of his arms several times. It was hard enough to keep him from falling to the hard asphalt, but combined with him kick and squirming it was becoming increasingly difficult.

Finally, Steve freed one hand, and clamped it down on Tony’s mating glands on his neck. “Sorry Tony, I couldn’t get you to stop.” He said, apologetically, before shifting the now limp omega in his arms. Tony let out a soft pleading whine as Bucky whistled.

“Looks like you’re getting fresh.” He said, with a small wink, and Steve glowered at him.

“Buck, you’re the only one for me, you know that.” The elevator opened, and they stepped into it. “JARVIS, take us up to Tony’s floor.”

“Yes sir.”

“I’m just saying,” Buck nonclauntly said, “that even though I might not on the market, it doesn’t mean that I’m not looking.”

“Buck!”

“Hey, I’m just saying you two look good together.” Buck held his hands up defensively, but Steve rolled his eyes.

“You say that I look good with everybody.”

“Especially with Tony. The contrasting hair colors-”

“Which is like yours.” Steve said, but Bucky continued.

“-really smart-”

“I think you might be pushing it.”

“-cares for others-”

“You just want to see us make out.”

“-and hey, he’s an omega. That’s a total plus.”

Steve sighed, done talking about it. Bucky just smirked triumphantly, as the doors opened to let them in. The common room floor was the same as Steve remembered it to be. Though, it looked like there was a wider selection of DVDs and a new coffee table, it felt like yesterday he was living in here.

“JARVIS, where is Tony’s nest?” Bucky came back from Tony’s room. Steve hadn’t realized that he had left.

There was a pause, as if the AI was judging them before replying. “The closest nest that Sir has is in Malibu, which is never used and is only for omega guests.”

The two alphas exchanged glances. Then looked down at Tony who had stopped whimpering and laid pliant in Steve’s arms. No nest? It was a must have thing when it came to omegas. It was scientifically proven that if an omega had a nest, it was happier, and didn’t feel quite as helpless when they were in heat or sick. Even that was well known in the 1920’s and 30’s.

“I’ll go get blankets and pillows.” Bucky quickly volunteered.

“I’ll go fix up his room.” And they separated.

Steve hadn’t seen the inside of Tony’s room before, and wouldn’t have placed it to be an omegas room. It wasn’t like it was too different than the other guest rooms in the Tower. There wasn’t any knick knacks on the dresser or pictures on the walls. It was sparsely furnished. Besides two pillows that had obviously been slept on recently, and messed up blankets, it didn’t look like anybody had lived in there.

Still, he had to work with _something_. Placing Tony on the ground, because he really couldn’t work without one hand, Steve ripped the blankets from where they were tucked in and laid them out smoothly across the bed. At least it was soft, that much was good. Grabbing the pillows, he brought them to his nose.

Alpha scent. The kind that he associated with Tony, but most likely synthetic. Not that it was a bad thing, but sometimes if an omega was near alpha pheromones, they’d rip up the whole room looking for them. Most likely to harm themselves if they did. Some even had mental breakdowns because they couldn’t find the alpha.

Tossing the pillows to the side, Steve then moved to the closet. Opening the doors, Steve looked for any comfort clothing. The most stained and ragged T-shirts smelled like the alpha pheromones, and the others that didn’t looked like expensive suits. They probably wouldn’t be very comfortable to be with. Then he spotted a singular box at the top of the closet.

Maybe Tony had hidden away some of his old trinkets. There wasn’t a doubt that Howard must’ve showered him with gifts of some kind, and those would help soothe Tony when he woke up. Grabbing the box, Steve lifted the lid and peered inside. Files. Just a bunch of files. Nothing to be seen here that would help Tony.

At that moment, Bucky arrived with his arms piled high in blankets and pillows. Steve pushed the box back where it was, and helped Buck pile blankets and position the pillows. Though, usually nest building went to the omega, but alphas can build one for the omega when they’re too sick or if they were trying to impress the omega into courting.

It was obviously the former.

Placing Tony in the middle of the nest, the omega began to whimper and tug at his own clothing, sweat dripping down his face. Steve and Bucky looked at each other.

Bucky started first, then Steve interrupted him. “Do you want to-”

“I’m not sure-”

“He is an omega-”

“But he’s hot-”

There was a pause, then Bucky grinned at Steve. “He’s hot, huh?”

There was a slight flush in Steve’s face, and that was all Bucky wanted. “Go, I’ll take him out of his clothes.”

“Would you need help?” Then Steve turned another slight shade of pink. “Not like that, I mean to keep your head about you.”

“I’m fine, I’ve handled my share of omegas before.” Buck waved Steve towards the door. “It’ll be you who I’ll worry about.”

Steve nodded, understanding, and then hurried out of the room. It wasn’t like he hated Tony’s scent, not at all, it wasn’t as harsh and overwhelming as some of the other omegas he’s smelled before. Actually, _all_ of the omegas, now that he thinks about it. When he was sick and weak all the time, omegas didn’t give him the time of day, barely giving him anything to smell before swishing away in their skirts. Buck was the one who came home twice a week from dancing smelling either like an omega or beta. Mostly omega. It had taken Steve to go into his rut and Bucky coming back smelling like an omega before they had both admitted their feelings to each other, and after that, Bucky only smelled like him.

But to combine the smell of Tony, _plus_ whatever skin under his clothing would probably test Steve to the max. And knowing how his instincts always got the better of him when it came to Tony, it wouldn’t be a surprise if Steve went down on the omega. And, adding the factor that Steve still felt like he had a crush on Tony, they might have bonded and again Bucky would be left out and who knows what would happen to their relationship.

Bucky came out of the room, while Steve was still in his own thoughts. “It’s done.” Buck said, closing the door behind him to keep the smell of Tony inside of the room. “JARVIS said he’d take care of him, and call us if anything happens to him.”

“Good. Good.” Steve said distractedly, mostly because a) his entire body felt like it was on the edge and b) Bucky smelled a lot like Tony. It must’ve been while he was changing him, but combining the scent with Bucky _and_ Tony made has never made Steve hard faster. It wasn’t a surprise to feel the warmth surge down when Bucky came out, it just made it all that harder to grit his teeth and keep the surge of ‘ _take, mate, breed_ ’.

‘ _It wouldn’t be right_ ,’ a small whisper said at the back of his head said. ‘ _You shouldn’t be attracted to Tony. Not after all that you’ve done to him. And you shouldn’t get aroused to Buck with his scent on him_.’

It was right, of course. Swallowing a small possessive growl at the back of his throat, Steve looked away. “Yeah. Let’s get to bed, I’m tired.”

Even from the corner of his eye, Steve saw Bucky take a breath and stiffen at the smell of arousal coming off of the alpha. Then a slow smile crept across his face. “Yeah? Bed?”

“Well, you should go take a shower first. And I should too.” Steve said quickly, knowing Buck would probably think that they were going to have sex and _who knows what he’d do if he smelled like an omega._

“Hmm.” Bucky took two long steps until he was two inches away from Steve, making the smell of omega stronger. His hand moved up Steve’s chest until it gripped his shoulder, and then Bucky leaned back slightly and held up his head, baring his throat. “Aren’t you going to fuck me, Alpha?” Bucky breathily said, and there was a deep reverberating growl.

It took Steve a second to realize that it was _him_ who was growling, and the triumphant smile on Bucky’s face said he knew too. Steve rumbled one more time before his hands twisted in Bucky’s long hair and brought their lips together, wiping away the smile. Buck opened his mouth for a breathy gasp as Steve tugged on his hair, and the alpha immediately took possession of his mouth. Mapping it out with his tongue, nipping at his lower lip, all the while Bucky tried to do the same but Steve knew all the places that made Buck lose it and made sure to do so.

Steve didn’t realise they were moving until he almost lost his footing at the steps before the elevator. Then, did he break away from Buck, breathing heavily. “We- we shouldn’t. Maybe after you’ve showered-”

“But Alpha,” Buck whimpered softly, baring his neck, “I need you. Please. I need your knot.” Buck moaned, drawing the words out. “Fill me up. Take me apart, Steve. I need you to hold me down, I need your cock.” He leaned up and whispered in Steve’s ear, “fuck me, Alpha?” Bucky breathily said, playing the part of an omega to the exact letter, as much as he could. It was a little too much, and certainly didn’t quite get the omega part of it down, but it was enough for the other alpha.

Steve’s resistance, as strong as it may be, snapped. He began to lavish Bucky’s neck with his tongue, gently sucking hickeys in the hollow of his throat. Buck groaned, and held onto Steve as he began to push him up against he elevators closed doors. He gently began to nip and suck a hickey right behind Buck’s ear- where the alpha glands were located- when Bucky began to speak again.

“Steve, Steve, please please _please_.” Buck chanted, and finally Steve looked up at Buck with his pupils blown wide. “Please let me take your knot.”

“I’m going to fuck you.” Steve growled, possessively looming over Buck. The other alpha gave him a smirk, accomplished.

“Then you’ll have to get to the bedroom before I start without you, hon.” Buck said huskily, as the elevator doors opened long enough for Buck to step back and quickly closed as Steve stared at the spot where his mate was at seconds ago.

Steve sprinted towards the stairwell.

It only took Steve about a minute to go down three flights of stairs to his old floor. Although, he knew that the elevator took about twenty seconds to get there. The lust simmering underneath his skin flared at the thought of Buck touching himself, his shirt up to his face as he smelled the coconut sweetness of omega. That thought made him go faster, slamming the stairwell door open, surveying the area.

Their old rooms were untouched, but clean enough that Steve knew that some maids came in about once a week. However, the trail of clothing leading to Steve’s old room was a perfect contrast from the seemingly bare living space. It took him three long strides to reach the slightly open door, pushing it open until it cracked against the wall.

Bucky was already in the middle of his own show. Completely bare, his left had was around his cock, swiping his thumb over the head of it and shivering. “Steve.” He said, with an unabashed smile on his face. “What took you so long? The party got started without you.”

Steve didn’t remember how he got to Bucky, but within what seemed like a second, he was kissing him fervently. Oh god, he smelled like Tony still. He must’ve rubbed on his clothing to make it smell like him. Buck groaned, bringing his hand up to Steve’s head to guide him into the kiss but Steve’s chest rumbled as he caught it in his own hand. Reaching down, Steve grasped Bucky’s left hand and brought both of them over his head, holding them in one hand as Steve nibbled at the fast healing hickeys he left minutes before.

“Steve.” Buck gasped as Steve began to lick at the sensitive scar at his shoulder. It was a gnarled mess of tissue, half of it dead, and the other over sensitised, making it easy for Steve to map out the areas where Bucky gasped and twisted in his grip.

Steve snarled at the sound and rose up to take Buck’s lips again, silencing him while his free hand went down to play with a nipple. Bucky arched with the contact, his noises muffled as Steve bore down on him. After playing with the hardened nipple, twisting and pinching, Steve’s hand switched to the other one, giving it the same treatment.

Buck groaned against Steve’s mouth, arching upwards. The small moment of clarity washed away and once again Steve found himself looking down at Bucky. His _mate_. The sweet smell of cinnamon and gun oil was mind numbing, along with a coconut smell of omega. His _mate_.

Steve reached a hand down and took Bucky in his hand and twisted his wrist. His mate gasped, his eyes fluttering and mouth parting to say something. His back arched up again, and Steve watched while he aggressively twisted and flicked Buck’s cock, getting him off fast. His stomach twitched and Steve lavished them with his tongue, feeling the hard sharp planes beneath his fingers move in pleasure.

Finally, Buck gave off a loud cry, his eyes shooting open as Steve felt warmth in his hand. He waited until the final twitches of pleasure were gone until he flipped Buck over and trailed his hands over his body.

Buck murmured at him as Steve spread his cheeks and looked at the rosy bud. Bringing his face close to it, he breathed right on Buck’s asshole, looking at how it winked at him. Steve’s hands began to massage his backside while he breathed on his asshole until Buck made a noise of frustration.

“Steve!” Buck cried out as finally Steve licked up from Buck’s balls to his asshole. “Steve _please_.”

The alpha hummed, as he licked another stripe up Buck’s backside. It tasted so good, it was purely _Bucky_ , and Steve went to town. His thumbs keeping Bucky spread out to the cooling air, Steve lapped and sucked at it until it was soft and twitching at every swipe. Buck was making indecipherable noises, his face pressed against the mattress while his hips pressed back every time Steve sucked at him.

The moment Steve slid the tip of his finger into Buck it was like electrocution ran through him. His head tilted back, crying as he tried to move his hips back onto the finger to take more. Steve held his hips tightly as he licked around the finger at the twitching muscle.

“P-Please _alpha_. _Please please_ -”

Steve took his finger out. The reaction was immediate. Buck writhed, begging, words falling out of his mouth. He wasn’t making any sense, his words slurring together. Sweat beaded at his face as he tried to twist and look back at Steve, but strong hands at his sides didn’t let him.

Steve watched with blown eyes. The writhing muscles as Buck moved, the sheen of the sweat, the way his back arched. The way how his hands framed Buck’s hips.

Finally, his arousal hit him. He was still in his pants, his dick uncomfortably straining at the crotch. The final wave of pheromones hit and ‘ _take, mine, breed_ ’ took prominence over his instincts. Ripping off the belt and pants as fast as he could, Steve slipped in two fingers to the second knuckle. He couldn’t wait anymore.

Bucky howled. His thighs muscles spazzed and Steve could tell that his knees were going to give up soon, but that didn’t stop him from scissoring and stroking the wet heat. It only took him a few tries before he hit the small bump and Buck’s hips pushed back as his entire body rippled with pleasure.

It didn’t take long for Steve to fit in another finger, all of them stroking at Buck’s prostate and stretching him at the same time. It was a rushed job, and a small part of Steve’s brain said ‘ _you should get lube_ ’. But with the noises Buck was making and the _smell of omega_ crushed that small logic away as Steve spat in his hand and coated his dick with his spit.

Taking his fingers away, Bucky whined loudly but Steve didn’t give him enough time to plead for more before lining up his cock and pushing in. It was slow at first, but the wet heat and the sudden gasps that Buck made were enough for him to grab onto Buck’s hips tightly and thrust in.

Steve’s fingers twitched against Bucky as the _heat_ and _pleasure_ rushed over him. He slowly grinded his hips against Buck, watching the alpha below him shiver and press back. Then he made his first thrust, and Bucky’s knees finally gave out. Gripping his hips harder, Steve kept Buck’s ass in the air as he started to go faster.

Bucky tried to push back, and whined as Steve’s grip grew even tighter and snarled. The movements were now faster and easier to slide in and out, and Steve took advantage of that by shoving into Buck roughly. Taking his pleasure from the alpha.

Finally his thrusts were going out of rhythm, stuttering as Steve grew closer to the edge. Releasing one hip, he reached down and grasped Bucky’s hard cock and jerked him off. It was the last straw for Buck, arching and baring his throat as he shouted. The tight heat around Steve grew even tighter as Bucky started to come. Steve waited until Buck was coming down from his high to shove in all the way and to give away to the blinding pleasure.

He could feel his knot swelling up, and Buck gasping as it grew larger. Steve was floating, high on endorphins and the feeling of power. Shifting Buck down and moving them into a more comfortable position, Steve’s knot continued to grow until it was around the size of a medium ball. Bucky shuddered and gasped as the knot pressed up against his prostate, until he let out another whimpering noise, and went completely lax against Steve as he came again, this time dry.

Steve closed his eyes and buried his face into Bucky’s neck, breathing in the combined scent of alpha and omega, his cock twitching every time he got a good whiff of coconut. The sweat was cooling down when Buck came to.

“Steve?” He muttered, twisting slightly to the alpha behind him, just so the knot wouldn’t overwhelm him again.

Steve happily hummed as his fingers brushed through Bucky’s sweaty hair, kissing the nape of his neck. “Yes Buck?” His voice deep and sated.

“Is that a yes on wooing Tony?” Bucky asked, as a small shudder curled up his spine as Steve kissed him again. “‘Cuz just so you know, I like him too. He smelled really good.”

“You’re the only one for me, Buck.” Steve said without any heart in it. “You know that. I know that. So why do you want Tony?”

“Because we ain’t perfect without him. Something’s missing between us, and I think he might fill it.” Buck pushed back into Steve’s arms and his metal fingers intertwined with Steve’s. “I just _know_ Stevie. I _know_ he’s the one for us.”

Steve smiled into Bucky’s shoulder and gave a soft sigh of resignation. “If you say that, then I guess I have no choice to believe you. If you think Tony will bring us happiness, then let’s do it.”

The metal hand squeezed his and Steve nuzzled Bucky’s neck, his chest rumbling with happiness.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, uh, this is the first time I've ever written smut. So please, tell me what you think and what I can do better in the comment box below.  
> ...  
> Thanks? I guess?


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It was only after he was suffocating himself did his brain finally come online enough to realize that a) it wasn’t his pillows he was using, b) his bed didn’t feel quite right, and c) it was Cap’s and possibly Barnes scent that was driving him insane.
> 
> That woke him up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, let's be a little quick. Warnings- panic attacks, emotions, self hatred, and a lot of everything.
> 
> Thank you for your criticism, it was pretty nice. Yes, Steve and Buck are dicks. Yes, it sounded like it was a wattpad story with the whole 'he's the one' thing. (I really hate wattpad, and that one person who referred to me as a wattpad writer I hope your bacon burns.)
> 
> It'll come together. Hopefully this chapter will show you a little bit of what's to come.
> 
> Many thanks.

Tony awoke to a headache, and to the smell of alphas. Not just any smell of alpha, but the scent of distressed pheromones. It felt like the entire bed stank of it, and it didn’t seem how much he buried his head under the pillow, the smell followed. It was only after he was suffocating himself did his brain finally come online enough to realize that a) it wasn’t his pillows he was using, b) his bed didn’t feel quite right, and c) it was Cap’s and possibly Barnes scent that was driving him insane.

That woke him up.

Rising out of bed, he glanced around the darkened room, alarmed that not only JARVIS not told him the time and what day it was, but also because it was dark. Normally JARVIS could sense when his brain functions were coming online, and was already diminishing the darkened color in the windows. However, wide awake and in the dark, Tony was wary.

What happened? Why had Cap and Barnes Noble been in his room?

The answer came as Tony started to move. It was like a cloud puffed up into his face, taking his own slightly muted, but still pretty noticeable smell of omega. That, and he was currently ovulating. Which, by all means, shouldn’t happen until, well, ever. Omegas only gave off that scent when they were pregnant, or if they were two, maybe three weeks away from having a heat. And figuring he only just had one, he was certain it wasn’t either of them. There was no way he was pregnant, he was sure that if he was somebody would come out and say it to him. Did some alpha get a hold of him? But the chances of actually getting pregnant outside of a heat were slim. Especially if it was a male omega. And there was absolutely no way that Tony was near another heat, no no no way.

He didn’t realize that he was hyperventilating until that moment. Slowly, using breathing techniques that he may or may not have learned during therapy, Tony managed to calm himself down.

Okay, so what does he know? One, JARVIS isn’t online or has instructions to leave him be for the moment. Two, Cap and Barnes stunk up the place a bit, probably know about his true orientation. And Three, he was over analyzing everything. He just needed to calm himself down, get a hot shower, febreze everything, and hopefully ignore Cap and his buddy for the rest of his life.

That sounds like a great plan.

Moving, however, seemed to make the omega scent grow stronger. It also made him aware of how sticky his skin felt and how disgusting he felt. It didn’t feel like he spent a few days down in the lab, where he was always came out covered in oil and gunk. If Tony thought about it, it felt like he had a marathon of sex.

A lot of sex.

But without the usual aches in his lower region. His entire body was sore, and as Tony climbed out of the bed- yeah it was his bed with a helluva ton of pillows on it- he became aware of more aches and pains. It felt like he had to run a marathon and carry an elephant on his back. Standing up was a bit of a task, especially since his body felt like it wouldn’t carry his weight for long.

“JARVIS?” Tony said, holding himself up by leaning up against a wall. “You alive buddy?”

Immediately the lights on the room turned on, leaving Tony to blink while his eyes adjusted.

“I’m sorry Sir. I was asked not to disturb you until you asked for me.” JARVIS said, sounding a little off put.

“Yeah yeah, I’m fine.” Tony said, his eyes scanning what used to be his room. Blankets and pillows were stacked around the bed, messed up from when he clambered out of it. There was a glass of water on the side table, along with a small romance novel next to a chair that had obviously been taken from the shared area. His closet door was open and his clothing had visibly been rifled through.

Tony felt his hackles rise. Even though he made it a point not to decorate his rooms, it was still his. And anybody coming in here, especially when he was passed out, and messing with his stuff and _doing things_ in his room set him off. Cap and Barnes had a lot to answer for.

Because Tony was _fucking_ not okay with them being in his room.

That’s when Tony noticed that he was only in his boxers. (Iron Man themed, of course.) Mixed emotions flashed through, but two mostly stayed behind. Anger and violation. If that was an emotion, which it should be if it wasn’t. A little bit of bile entered Tony’s mouth, just thinking about one of the two alphas undressing him. Vulnerable, without any means of fighting them off-

_(-straps cut off the circulation around his hands, and mildly Tony wondered how long it would take for them to work again without any aches and pains. A sharp pain came from his chest, and he cried out. Already he could feel the bruise forming across his chest._

_“Now, now Tony. You really ought to stay in the moment.” Obie said soothingly, while curling his fingers in Tony’s hair before yanking it downwards towards his groin. “Lick.”_

_Tony hesitated, which earned him another sharp hit from the reed whip. He couldn’t move, not with all of the leather tying him down. He lowered his head and whined, unable to do what Obie asked._

_“Tony.” The alpha said in his softest voice, a gentle touch to chin made the omega relax. “You know I don’t like it when you disobey me.” Tony shut his eyes, gritting his teeth as the reed whistled through the air and smacked him on the back of his thighs. Tony tried to bite off the scream, but it came out garbled and-)_

-and taking his clothing off. Cap and Barnes better hope that it was Natasha or Clint who got him out of his clothes, or there would be hell to pay.

Tony really shouldn’t point his anger towards the two alphas, but he only saw the facts that were apparent to him. First off, his room smelled of them. They came into his room often enough that it stuck around. There was some sort of makeshift nest on his bed, which _god help him he was going to strangle somebody._

“Sir? Are you okay? Do you wish me to call in Miss Potts?” JARVIS interrupted Tony’s thoughts, bringing him back to the room. He had slid down the wall, curled up against in a fetal position. That, and he was slightly light headed from hyperventilating again. He was too preoccupied in his thoughts to notice that he was having a small panic attack.

He had to do something right now, or else he was going to dwell on this and he’d be useless for the day.

God, Tony hated emotions.

Wobbling to his feet, Tony summoned his strength to walk towards his bathroom. “JARVIS, vent the room. It stinks in here. I’m taking a shower, don’t let anybody in.” He paused at the door, glancing back at the bed. “Also, get some maids in here. Clean up this mess.”

“Yes Sir.” JARVIS said, before Tony closed the door and locked it.

The lock didn’t feel like it was enough. (He made a mental note to put a deadbolt or something there so he’d feel safer while taking a shower. Call him paranoid, sure, but if aliens attacked Manhattan again, his bathroom would be the safest place in all of New York.)

 

* * *

 

Tony came out of the shower shaken (not stirred). He smelled like vanilla and the soft baby beta scent. The only reason is because he kept on gagging with all of his alpha scented body wash and conditioner. He had found a bar of unwrapped soap in his counter, stuffed behind all of the shaving supplies and a few spare bottles of alcohol that he had forgotten that were there.

Even so, the smell wasn’t going to cover up the increasing annoying scent of omega. Seconds out of the shower he could already smell his natural odor and itched to go back in the shower and rub himself with all of his alpha soaps no matter if he threw up. His skin was red from him rubbing the bar of soap over him (it looked like it came from a hotel or something, and he might’ve thrown it in his suitcase and a maid must’ve put it in the bathroom. It certainly didn’t match with anything in the tower at _all_ and it was too cheap to come with anything he had bought) and the last sliver of the soap had slipped out of his hands and went down the drain.

He was going to have JARVIS order better body wash and stuff. Then maybe track down who made that bar of soap and sue them or buy them out so nobody could suffer at the hands of that rock hard piece of shit.

With a towel wrapped around his waist, Tony really wished that he had brought in some clothes with him. Even though his door was locked, he didn’t feel safe enough to get dressed without some sort of other protection. And his closet was another problem. He couldn’t really stand the smell of the fake alpha scent that he used so much, and all of his clothing had some sort of trace of it.

So, old Christmas gifts it was.

He kept them in a box under his bed, all sorts of things that he wouldn’t use or haven’t yet because he’s forgotten about them. There were only so many ties from across the country that one man could have, and besides, silk ties were a pain.

Tugging out the box, Tony blinked at the pink bra sitting on top of it. It also seemed like some of his old one night stands stuff also got into the mix. (As kinky as he was, that bra would never fit him. It was too large.) All he needed was a pair of pants and a shirt. If there were any boxers in the pile, then he’d get those as well.

He found a pair of unopened loose yoga pants and an old MIT shirt that he thought he had lost in his travels, also a pair of Hulk themed boxers (who- how??). The other things that he found in that box was slightly horrifying and way too much lace.

(He was going to have to throw them out later.)

(Maybe.)

“JARVIS, where are the others.”

“I believe they are having breakfast in the common area.”

Right outside his door. Great. There was a small little doubt in Tony’s mind. They knew that he was an omega. They had to. Would they kick him off the team? Would they not want to be his friend anymore? Would they try to make him stop being Iron Man? (His mind whispered ‘ _fuck them I’m Iron Man and I’ll blow them up_ ’.)

Banishing the thoughts from his head, Tony decided to just go out there and wing it. If they couldn’t take him seriously as an omega, then they had nothing to do with him. They’d leave, just like everybody else.

Tony stopped at the door. Then took a long breath. “JARVIS? How are the plans on getting me my own private elevator?”

“Almost completed. Although, Miss Potts would have to approve of this particular renovation as it falls under ‘Adding excessive things which you don’t need’ list.”

“Alright. So I won’t get it. Maybe in a month if I’m sneaky-”

“Sir. May I remind you that they are your friends. They wouldn’t abandon you so easily.”

Tony took another deep breath and nodded. “Right. Right. That too.” And before he could make any more excuses, he opened the door and walked out.

There was chatter in the dining area, and he could hear Clint say something sarcastic and Thor laugh loudly. It seemed like they were just digging into the food. It was familiar, and it caused a wash of anxiety that hung in Tony’s stomach heavily.

Putting on a smile, as natural as he could have, he rounded the corner and leaned up against the wall.

The smile froze as he saw two other people at the table, Cap and Barnes who were having a conversation with Bruce. Nobody noticed him, they were all in their own little worlds, and if they had seen his face when he looked at the two alphas who, by all means, he was probably terrified to be around, they would have asked what was wrong. (Tony has always had a slight vulnerability to that question. Nobody asks it, but those who do seem to break down any wall or defense he had against them.)

Tony took a shaky breath and his smile reformed. Maybe it was a little too icy, or a touch too fake, but it was a smile. It was as close as he could get with whatever mixed feelings he had at the moment.

He knocked on the wall, gaining their attention. “Hey, what’s up people?”

Conversation died, and there was a pause where everybody looked at him. For just a few seconds that lasted forever, Tony _knew_ they didn’t want anything to do with him. He kept his face carefully cheerily, arching a single eyebrow at the silence. The sinking feeling that he had grew solid in his stomach, and he just _knew_.

Natasha gave him a small smile, and she leaned back in her chair. “Tony, we were just having breakfast, would you like to join us?”

Tony didn’t know what to think, but his emotions seemed to get everywhere. His stomach twisted, and he shook his head. “Nah, I think I’m good-”

“But it’s french toast!” Clint protested loudly. “And you haven’t eaten in like, four days.”

“Four days?” Tony’s mind reeled at the thought. ( _He was vulnerable for four days._ ) “Damn, I’ve never passed out that long because of alcohol. New record.” He played it off.

“Tony,” Bruce said with a small softness that caused the emotions inside of Tony to quiet a little, “would you like some bacon? Or maybe some orange juice? You might not want to eat too much.”

Bruce gave him options, and Tony couldn’t have been gladder. A small part of him wanted to say ‘ _bless you Bruce_ ’ and the other wanted to curl up and press his face in his chest. Bruce was a godsend.

Tony hummed, thinking. “Maybe some orange juice.” It sounded like a good option, and he could drink it slowly. And just in case anybody wanted to ask him he could have some in his mouth and he could pretend to cough and escape.

A great plan.

That is, if Cap jump to his feet and almost knocked the chair to the floor. He caught it before it fell, and righted it. “Here, you can have my chair.”

Tony opened his mouth to protest, it’s only orange juice after all and he didn’t have to sit to drink it, but Barnes then got out of _his_ chair and grabbed a glass from a cabinet. He then grabbed a huge jug of orange juice and filled the glass to the brim. “Here you go, Tony.” Barnes said, with what he would have said a comforting smile.

Tony would have called it a predatory look.

Anger surged up. _How dare they think him incompetent of getting his own glass of OJ_. It seemed everything they did grated on his nerves. He was an omega, yeah, but it didn’t mean he was treated like a glass doll.

Tony didn’t realize he closed his eyes until he opened them. His mask had fallen, and he knew he had a pinched look on his face. Dozens of responses crossed his head, but Tony decided to bite his tongue. “You know what.” A half attempt of a smile crossed his face, but fell. “I have to go save orphans from a burning building. I'll see you later.”

And it would have been a perfect escape, if Tony’s knees decided to give him a good run for his money against gravity. He wobbled as he headed towards the elevator, and a hand grabbed his elbow. The smell of alpha sent all alarm bells ringing in his head.

“Tony-” Cap said, and Tony wrenched his arm from the super soldier.

“Don’t _touch me_.” Tony snarled, just as his body released his omega scent tinged with fear. Cap flinched, taking a step back.

The elevator quickly opened and closed as Tony entered it in his hasty retreat. His legs gave him, and he slid to the floor.

He had to breathe, he had to stop his heart from hammering against his ribcage. He just wanted to be somewhere where he felt _safe_.

“JARVIS.” He said, his voice sounding too small and shaken for his liking. “Take me down to my lab.”

“Miss Potts has said you are not allowed down there with your medication affecting you.” JARVIS said, and Tony drew his body tighter to the wall.

“I need to- I just…” Tony tried to say something, but words failed him. “I need to be safe, J. _Please_?” The last word was a whine, and immediately Tony hated himself for being so _weak_.

“Of course Sir.” The elevator moved downwards, and Tony closed his eyes.

He really, really hated himself.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, just a little thing here. I let Tony's emotions come and go really fast because of the medication is affecting his moods. So yeah, there is that.
> 
> Bruce, man. He's a nice dude. Giving choices. Soft voice. Nice.
> 
> And um... hopefully this was better than the last chapter? (Thanks for all of the comments about my smut. Which I really can't write... It was difficult.) Please tell me what you think about this, okay? Thanks!
> 
> Unbeta'd.


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Tony was nine years old, it grew apparent he wasn’t an alpha.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning- mentions of rape at the end. (If you need to skip that, basically don't read the last paragraph.) Also, parental abuse.

When Tony was nine years old, it grew apparent he wasn’t an alpha. He was too short, and wasn’t gaining any of the early signs of puberty. He was too young for doctors to properly guess about his orientation, but it was easily said that he wasn’t going to be an alpha. (Howard had fired those doctors, saying; “Steve Rogers was an alpha, and everybody thought he was an omega. My son will be the finest alpha out there, so you can go stick your hypothesis up your ass.”)

Tony was ten, and he still had his baby face. His skin was soft still, and his growth spurts were finally kicking in a little. His mother would come into his room every night, her long fingers running through his curly locks and whispering; “Whatever you become, you shall always be my bambino. Your father wants his alpha son, to bring along the family business. I shall have you anyway that you are.” Tony was always comforted by that, knowing his mother didn’t have any special expectations that his father did always made him relax.

He got into a fight when he was eleven years old. Howard had rumbled with happiness, loudly proclaiming that his son, _his alpha son_ , was finally starting to hit his instincts. Howard had given Tony a motorcycle that night, apparently the very same motorcycle that Steve Rogers himself had used to fight against the forces of Natzi Hydra. It was broken down a little, and more than a few scrapes on it, but Howard had merely said, “You’re following in his footsteps, you’re going to be just fine.”

Tony bit his lip while he was fixing the motorcycle that night. He had wanted to tell his mother that he actually wanted to cower and hide behind the nearest good smelling adult when he saw that boy picking a fight with him. Tony didn’t want to punch, growl, or be mean. He had wanted to be _safe_.

~~But that would disappoint his dad, so he didn’t say anything.~~

When Tony was fourteen, his growth spurt stopped. He was much smaller than Howard, and barely three inches taller than his mother. Howard didn’t talk about it, except at dinner when he urged Tony to eat all of his gourmet vegetables with extra vitamins so he could be stronger. His body started to go changes, like all of the awkward teenagers his age. Through, he didn’t get the ones that Tony had hoped for. Instead of having his voice crack like the other alphas, whose voices were getting lower each day, he got moods and pimples. He went to his school nurse, who had merely clucked at him and said, “Your hormone levels are going crazy, and they’ll keep doing it until you’re out of puberty. It’s producing more oils on your face than you need, so that’s when you get pimples. Simply clean your face every morning and before bed, and they’ll go away.”

Howard had thrown a fit when he saw Tony use special wipes on his face to get rid of the oil. He had thrown the box of wipes out of the house and said, “You’re an alpha. Not some girly omega, you understand?”

That’s when Tony had a sinking feeling that he was just that. A girly omega.

Time continued onwards, and Howard kept on telling others and himself that Tony was an alpha. Even though everybody could easily guess that he wasn’t, simply because of puberty was a telling sign and Tony didn’t have any of them.

Tony was at MIT at the age of sixteen. There, he met his first male omega. They had soft skin, and could easily look like a girl if they wanted to. Shorter than an alpha, but around the size of a small beta, they looked like they kept care of themself. There was a bite shaped scar on their neck, but even then alphas harassed this poor omega. Tony was about to step up and fight the alphas away, when somebody beat him to it. He tagged along, not willing to get left behind just because some jerk stepped up to the plate before he did.

That’s how Tony and James Rhodes became friends. After they got a good wailing on them by a bunch of alphas, they went back to Tony’s place and fixed themselves up. They bonded by having their asses kicked, and it was the best thing that had ever happened to Tony.

By now, Tony knew he was a late bloomer. His mother had admitted it that she was late into puberty, and by now Tony had a pretty good idea of what he was. There were only two options, really. Small beta, or omega. And the later wasn’t going to work with Howard at all. At best, Tony would be sent away to an omega boarding school where he’ll learn how to be the perfect obedient omega for Howard to sell off. Or Howard disowns him and Tony’ll be penniless.

Both, by any account, weren’t ideal.

Tony was seventeen when he had his first heat. Thankfully, he was in his apartment. Rhodey had gotten to the point of trust where Tony had confided in him about his suspicions about his status, and wasn’t surprised when Tony had called him up and said he might be going into a heat.

First heats, generally, weren’t that bad. It was mostly about four hours long, and alphas weren’t really attracted to the omega yet. It was just the body prepping through a heat for a test run, to see if everything worked before it actually had a week and a half of full heat. Still, it felt like a real heat, and for the omega, it was the worst because it was the first time that Tony craved something so _bad_ that he couldn’t get.

That night, after Tony had sweated out for five hours of a fake heat, Rhodey held him while he cried.

Howard would kill him if he knew.

Unfortunately, even the great Howard Stark couldn’t hold onto his illusion forever. Only three weeks after Tony’s first heat, did Howard Stark finally give into the idea that his son wasn’t as perfect as he believed him to be.

That’s when it all went downhill. And fast.

Jarvis came and picked him up during a small break from school, only about four days long. He had been planning to spend it with Rhodey but the serious look from the old butler was enough for Tony to pull on his jacket and slip into the rolls royce that Jarvis drove down. Jarvis couldn’t hide the small whiff of worry and scared, which put Tony on an edge all the way to his parents mansion.

Tony walked into his father's study, and noticed he wasn’t the only one there. Obadiah Stane was sitting in the chair in front of the desk, taking a long drag from a cigar. His father was flipping through old files, and Tony had managed to catch a glimpse of his name and the words of ‘medical history’ before Howard shut the file and picked up his glass with a specially picked alcohol inside.

He waited until Howard leaned back in his chair, taking a long gulp of alcohol before setting it down on the desk.

“Tony, what am I going to do with you?”

Tony didn’t know what to say back at first. “I don’t know what you mean,” he said, hesitantly, “sir.” He added at the end, just in case the lack of honorific lead to him to witness his father's anger. Though brash and lippy as Tony was, the feeling that he got around his father, was, for the lack of a better word, fear.

His father had absolute control over him, until at least the age of eighteen. And then, handing over the company would be difficult because Howard would want a piece of it until the day he died. However far that was in the future. Even more so if Howard found out he was an omega, legally they couldn’t make their own adult decisions until they were 21. That meant Howard could marry him off to somebody and Tony couldn’t say no to anything. The company would be in somebody else's hands, and he’d be the whore at home making heirs to whoever got into Howard's good graces.

“See?” Howard pointed at Tony with an accusing finger. “See what I mean? You’re not forward, you’re not pushy, you let anybody step right on you. You don’t even know what the meaning of the word ‘dominance’ is, don’t you, Tones?”

“It means to have power or influence over others. Sir.” Tony said, not looking directly at his father, but near enough.

“Yes, blah blah blah dictionary stuff I know. But you don’t even use dominance, do you, my boy?”

“I do.” It slipped out in a defiant tone that sounded more whiny than confidence.

Howard leaned forwards in his chair, his beady eyes staring right into Tony’s. “No, you don’t. You see, alphas give people trouble. They _annoy_ others, push them to the limits of their emotions until they crack. You? Besides the whole ‘blowing up’ a few things at MIT, not a thing.”

Tony stayed quiet. He could easily see where this was going.

“You see, Tony? I think you’re a _liar_. You’ve been lying to me, haven’t you.” Howard was obviously more drunk than Tony had thought he was, which made the uncomfortable feeling in his stomach sink even lower. “You’re not an _alpha_. You’re an imposter! A flimsy, _weak_ , omega!!” At this, Howard slammed his hand on the desk and stood.

“Dad-” Tony tried to object, but Howard snarled at him.

It was the first time that Tony faced a full grown alpha that wished him harm. His entire body locked up, and it was the first time that Tony felt vulnerable due to his own instincts.

“Look at you!” Howard bellowed, “you’re already a coward. Can’t even move because your old man is talking with you!” Tony flinched, a wrong move against Howard's wrath. “ _Get on your knees_.”

Howard barked, his voice low and rough, confusing Tony. It felt like his entire body weighed like a ton, compelling him to fall to his knees, but he resisted. The voice was simple but it hit something inside of Tony that he wasn’t aware of.

 _“I said get on your knees!_ ” Howard spoke again, and this time Tony couldn’t help himself as his body fell to land on his knees. It was terrifying, he couldn’t move, something inside of him compelling him to do his father's bidding without any warning, Howard's anger and unpredictability.

“You’re right, Howie.” Obadiah spoke up, and Tony felt some kind of relief. He had momentarily forgotten that Obie was here, and Howard wouldn’t hurt him too bad if his business friend witnessed it. Then, Obie finished his thought. “You can’t let Tony out to the public like this, he’ll disgrace the Stark name. Whoever heard of an unruly omega from a high position in society like this? Stocks would go down.”

Howard's eyes narrowed on Tony, obviously thinking. It only took a few moments before a determined look appeared in his eye. “I was right in calling you down here, Obie. Since I’ve obviously let this _game_ on for too long, Tony hasn’t learned what it means to be a proper omega. He’ll do everything you’ve said, and more, unless we train him.”

“We can’t send him to an omega boarding school, somebody will connect the dots far sooner than we plan to let this information out.” Obie advised, “we need a discreet person, who's had plenty of practice with omegas before.”

Howard grinned as his finally took his eyes off of Tony. “You can, Obie. You’ve had, what, three ex wives?”

Obie tried to put up a good fight against Howard's reasoning, but finally agreed to whatever Howard had said. Tony didn’t remember a thing of their conversation after that, too busy focusing on the thought of ‘proper omega’ and what would happen to him. He’d have no say in it, and he couldn’t do anything unless Howard stopped it.

But he wouldn’t.

That day, Tony had a lot of firsts. But the one that stuck the most was when his father walked out of the study, leaving Obie to rape him for the first time. It was when the thought of ‘fuck you society’ came to mind, and became his mantra as the pain and soothing words became too much and he retreated into his shell.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the long update, schools being a bit of a bother. Anyways, hoped you enjoyed this chapter!!
> 
>  
> 
> Unbeta'd


	15. Chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It had taken only four hours after Tony had crawled into his lab before the Avengers alarm went off.
> 
> It had felt like an eternity.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again, I would like to point out that Tony is totally going to a lot of emotional crap at the moment. And mood changes. I tried to keep that in mind as I wrote this.
> 
> Also, angst. Tony is feeling a sad at the moment.

It had taken only four hours after Tony had crawled into his lab before the Avengers alarm went off.

It had felt like an eternity.

Emotions raced through Tony like he was on a rollercoaster. Sharp turns, peaking descents, tumbling straight downwards in a pit of misery. His entire body was sweaty and yet covered in goosebumps as Tony laid on his cot. Dummy and You were making distressing noises, and already Dummy had tried to spray him with the fire extinguisher as if it could calm the burning that Tony felt under his skin. Yet he was freezing cold to the outside air.

JARVIS kept an eye on him, no doubtedly, and Tony knew if this kept up somebody would be called down here to help him. Probably Bruce, which would have been nice if  _ just the thought of Bruce being near him made Tony want to jump his bones. _

Yeah, it was a good call to get away from the others.

A headache beat behind his eyes, and Tony couldn’t look up at the lights without hissing at JARVIS to turn them down to their lowest, and even so it caused the headache to swell with pain every time he opened his eyes. A cloudy fog had found it’s way over Tony’s brain and he couldn’t concentrate, think, or any of the above. His entire body ached, and Tony didn’t feel like moving. Forever.

All in all, it felt like a grade A case of the flu. Without the snot and unpleasant sore throat.

It wasn’t the first time that Tony hated himself. It was however, when Tony hated himself and two other people plagued his thoughts which made him want to go up to Cap or Barnes and slug them in their little smirky faces for getting into his head.

Assholes.

Then the shriek of the alarms and the increasing tempo of the headache made Tony groan (way too loudly for his sensitive ears) and try to get up.

He can mope later, he had to go whoop some ass.

That is.

Is JARVIS would let him even near the suit.

So what that Tony was putting most of his weight on the bench beside him. So what if he suddenly got so dizzy he couldn’t see momentarily. Or that his hand was covering his eyes as he squinted at the nearest camera with his deadliest glare that he could conjure at the moment. JARVIS should open the damn case and let him put the suit on to save people.

Saving. People. Really JARVIS. Think about the kids.

“I’m afraid the kids are already evacuated, sir.” JARVIS said without really being apologetic.

Did he speak that out loud?

“Yes sir, I’m afraid that you did. I think it would be wise for you to sit down, or maybe go lie back on the cot.”

Tony twisted his face in a form of annoyance and snapped, “dammit JARVIS I want to be helpful.”

“You can help by not making your teammates worried about you in the midst of a battle.”

“They don’t need to worry about me, J. I’ll be fine.”

“You cannot stand up on your own at the moment.” JARVIS replied, and Tony made a frustrated noise.

“Listen here, JARVIS.” Tony suddenly felt a swoop in his stomach and he felt like he was going to vomit as the unmistakable feeling of anger coursed through his system. He was  _ pissed _ . “You either let me into the suit, and you help guide me, or I will shut you down and take the suit without you. Either way, I am going to be in the damn suit whether you want me to or not. The only difference is you being with me or not.”

There was a long silence, and finally JARVIS silently replied by turning on the suits power. Tony didn’t say anything as he walked onto the loading dock, where pieces of his suit came together and fitted around him. Tony was pretty sure he swayed back and forth, that’s probably why his vision kept on moving.

The machine was done, and the entire suit was pressed up against his body. It was uncomfortable, and Tony’s face crinkled up in disgust as the closed space finally meant that he started to smell his pheromones. Yuck. A window rolled down, leaving a space so Tony could fly out without breaking anything. Thanks J.

“You are certainly most welcome Sir.” JARVIS replied, his voice disapproving. “It would still be in your best interest if you were capable of lying down and resting instead of flying around while you can’t even walk straight.”

“I take back my thanks. You don’t deserve my thanks.” Tony replied, as he took two steps towards the window, and suddenly lost his balance. Why was he going left? The answer to that question was solved when Tony hit the wall of his shop, taking out a concrete chunk. Oh. That.

“Oops.” Tony said, as he stumbled to his feet. “Maybe…” He was starting to reconsider, when once again he stumbled. This time forwards, and Tony crashed through the window in front of him, completely missing the open one not two feet away. “Nat will never let me live this down.” Tony grumbled, as his repulsors fired up, and he shot into the sky. “Never.”

* * *

 

Okay. So. Orange blobs. Orange blobs that were shaped like… “J, is it just me or do they look like monkeys.”

“I believe they are correctly called Apes.”

“Oh good, I’m not hallucinating. That's a plus.” Tony replied, as he brought himself up short of two orange apes and fired his repulsors at them. They popped like balloons, the orange gelatin that they were made up of splattering across his suit and the street around him. “Okay, well. That burst my bubble.”

“Sir, I believe that they others are handling this. You are not needed at this time. I suggest you go back to the lab.”

“Lab schmab.” Tony brushed it off, “I don’t care. Where are the other monkeys?”

“Apes.”

“Monkeys.”

“Apes.”

“Shut it J. I’m trying to think.” Tony paused, “PS, monkeys.”

JARVIS sighed, making the exasperated sound louder than normal. “Sir, your core temperature is rising.”

“I’m naturally hot, J. Think about that.” Tony rolled his eyes, and then a silent alarm started to flash across his HUD screen. The Hawkeye-Is-About-To-Throw-Himself-Off-A-Roof alarm. “Ahh, nature calls me.” And Tony was off, his screen showing him the direct route to Clint.

“In which way does Clint constitute as nature?” JARVIS asked.

“You know, because he’s a bird? And birds are in nature? And… why am I even trying to explain this to you.” Tony frowned, just as a flashing warning sign went off and a dot started to fall a head of him. Adjusting his flight, Tony came in and picked Clint out of the air.

“What the- Tony! You’re not suppose to be here.”

“Funny. Usually people like to kiss me when I pick them off of their feet.” Tony snarked, back, “or at least say thank you for rescuing me when I am falling off of a building.”

“Crapp. Steve wants you on the comm line, like, now.” Clint winced. “Oh fuck. He says get back to the tower. ASAP.”

“Well, tell him my comms are down. And I can’t hear you.” Tony slowed his descent and dropped Clint off on a top of a roof top.

“Tony, you’re-”

But he was gone already. Tony didn’t want to think about what Cap was going to do, or say, or whatever. Just as long as he stayed far away from Tony. Yeah. But right now? Right now he had to get rid of some monkey-apes. Because they’re invading New York, and unfortunately, that falls to the Avengers. And he can’t just sit around and do nothing. Tony Stark is exactly that. A Stark, and Stark's just don’t sit back and wait for others to do their work. They are not weak.

His mind grew numb as the battle continued. The monkey-apes were easy to take care of, really. And it just took a few blasts for them to disappear. He caught glimpse of Thor and Natasha, once he saw a figure in black that couldn't be anything but Barnes. But he didn’t want to be near them, for them to chew him out for being out here. It wasn’t like anybody was going to smell the faint odor of distressed omega on him and say Tony Stark is an omega. He might’ve picked one up and saved them or something. And the suit was completely sealed across his body, there was no way the population of New York would find out.

It wasn’t until all of the monkey-apes were all gone, and Tony couldn’t find anymore, did he turn on his comms. To say the least, it was painful.

“Fucking Stark and his stupid 'I gotta save everybody' syndrome. Oh no, he couldn’t have just stayed home. He  _ had _ to come out-”

“Clint. Chatter.” It was Cap. The morning replayed itself in Tony’s head. He had rejected Cap. Lashed out against him. Obie wouldn't have hesitated to smack some sense into him. Cap was angry. Tony was bad. He was bad, bad bad badbadbadbad

“Doesn’t he have any sense of self perseverance?” Clint spoke up again, “you’d think a genius like him would be smart enough to stay at the tower.”

“Clint. When it comes to it, I’ll have a talk with him.” God no. The image of Cap, in his lab, baring down on him sent shivers down his spine and bile formed in his throat. He is going to come. Cap is going to come and punish him because he was bad. Bad omega. Bad Stark. Bad everything. “But at the moment, let's just get home and get cleaned up.”

“Doesn’t he know that we might actually care for him? And him in his Iron Man suit while he’s sick from drugs reacting badly might, you know, kill him?! God! What an idiot!” Clint snapped, and Tony ducked his head and a small whimper escaped his mouth. Fuck, even his friends hate him for what he is. They weren’t there for him, they don’t need an omega friend. What use was an omega if they weren’t a fuck hole?

There was a small pause.

“Tony?” Clint asked, “oh god. Tony, I didn’t mean to.” He continued to speak but Tony had stopped listening.

They know. They _know_. He was listening into their conversation and they know. _Oh_ _god_.

“JARVIS.” Tony’s voice warbled, and he knew he sounded pathetic. “Take me back to the tower. This was a mistake.” There were other voices. Of people he knew. After a few seconds he shut the comm off, trying to control his breathing. He hadn’t realised he was hyperventilating. It was suddenly too cramped in his suit, it felt like his pheromones were choking him.

He didn’t remember getting back in the tower, or taking his suit off. He remembered the breath of fresh air, and seeing the window was covered up by a piece of cardboard and long strips of duct tape. He remembered seeing Dummy holding up a pile of blankets, and a green smoothie by the side of his cot. He remembers curling up in a ball and asking JARVIS to lock everybody out in a Code Red sequence. He remembers the room growing darker, as all the windows were shut tightly and emergency locks falling into place.

Tony closed his eyes, curling up tightly with all of the blankets on top of him and willing his mind to try and think about _something_ else other than the days events.

(It didn’t work.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again, I shall say that Tony is having a sad. 
> 
> But have no fear! Pepper is almost here!! :)
> 
> Unbeta'd.
> 
> Comments?


	16. Chapter 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Biology sucks.
> 
> (But this time, a Steve pov.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More emotions but this time Steve.  
> Um.

Biology wasn’t something you could easily turn off. You can’t just go in and click ‘unsubscribe’ and think it to be done and over with. It’s part of you, and you can’t just stop it from coming out. It’s there, and it’s something you have to accept. Except that is the hardest part.

Steve knew better. He really ought to. Except that didn’t help him from thinking about it. From Tony.

It’s hard and difficult to explain. He had once seen a video that had explained something close to it, but it wasn’t quite on the dot. It mostly talked about how women and men thought different, about how men thought in boxes while women had wires. Everything was connected in a womans head, while a man just thought about something inside that one box. Back when… Back when Tony was still his… not-enemy. Acquaintance? Friend? Steve’s mind thought back to when he and Tony talked to each other without much difficulty. Tony liked to joke a lot, and it sometimes eased the pain of the future. Once, it seemed like years ago, Steve even hung out in the shop with Tony and drew while Tony did his work.

It felt like that was all a dream.

Back when Tony and he were good fellas, if that is a term that could describe them back then, they were close. Even though they fought. Every alpha had the basic necessary need to fight. Had to. It was an itch in the fingers, something you didn’t think twice about until after you had a split lip and a taste of blood. That was one thing about alphas. One of many.

So that’s why Steve shouldn’t be out here. Pacing back and forth, his neck turning so he could look at the dark walls. It was strange to see them darkened. Before, Tony would have them clear, so anybody could walk by and see what he was doing. But now the door was locked and reinforced by several layers of steel. Steve paced.

The worst thing was, was the smell. Steve’s nose flared as he thought about it, catching that wiff of coconut, _of Tony_ , and the sudden thought of _protectmineomega_. Steve clenched his jaw, willing the urge to grab his shield and smash his way into the lab. Break open the bullet proof windows, walk in and hold Tony in his arms until he submitted.

He can’t. Tony said to not touch him. He was _scared_ of Steve, when he had been trying to show his interest by giving him his seat. Is that what alphas did these days? Or did that change while he was in the ice? Hell, even Bucky had tried to show Tony his interest, although a little too enthusiastic about it. But Tony turned them down. And he was afraid of them.

Never before did Steve want anything more than to punch himself in the face. He had done this. Made Tony scared. Held him up against the fridge that one day, and thrown himself into Tony’s face. Scared him. Threatened him.

Steve paced. Each step was a conflict. Go in, get Tony. Stay away. Stay away. Go in. _Tony._

If only his Ma was still alive, she might have killed him. And honestly, Steve felt like he deserved it. Tony was only trying to help Buck, but after that night's confrontation about Tony and his omega-

Steve stopped, his nose flaring again. _Tony_ assaulted his senses, but his mind felt the connection easily. Back then, Tony smelt of himself. He was in _heat._ A sickening twist of his stomach made Steve squat and his hands thread through his hair. Steve had _yelled_ at Tony. For abandoning them while Clint had thrown himself off of a building. But really, Steve was the one who _abandoned_ him. His entire body thrummed with energy, and he had half the mind to start pacing again, but his jaw clenched as he made himself stop.

No. He had to leave. Go somewhere, maybe the gym and punch something. Many somethings. Maybe himself. The longer he stayed the more likely he’d probably do something stupid. Not that what he was doing was already stupid. Hanging outside of a omega’s nest while they were in pain. That was asking for trouble. Steve could feel the logical part of his brain dead, and the more he stayed the more his instincts would prompt him to get Tony.

It was hard to explain this. There was something in his biology that made him want to protect Tony. Maybe even sink his teeth into-

 _No_!

Without realising it, Steve had been analyzing the window, the weakest part into Tony’s lab. He was on his feet (when did that happen) and was taking long gulps of air, tasting the coconut and _something_ of Tony and was pressed up against the wall. Steve moved back as if the wall had burned him. Then realised he had his own little problem.

This. This was why he shouldn’t be here. He had only come down to see if he could maybe leave something for Tony to eat outside the door, but the smell felt like it slapped him across his face. Sooner or later his instincts would win, and Steve had vowed that he would never, ever let himself hurt Tony again.

It felt like biology was laughing at him, especially the boner in his pants.

Embarrassment and shame raced through Steve, dulling the pull towards Tony for just a _second_ , and that was all that he needed. He was down the hallway, and into the stairwell. Each step away from the lab, from that smell, felt like Steve’s head was getting clearer and more aware of what he was doing.

By the time that Steve had gone up the twelve floors up to his and Buck’s room, the more ashamed and upset he was. Of course, Bucky had to be in the living room when Steve came racing in.

“Stevie, you okay?” Bucky asked, worry and surprise on his face. Steve grunted as he past Bucky on the couch and walked into his room, slamming the door behind him. So close. He was so close to giving into his biology and making Tony hate him.

Steve shucked off his shirt, it smelled too much like Tony. Everything smelled like Tony. Had to get away. Needed to get away. It wasn’t fair to him or to Tony. It was hard. Harder than anything that Steve had ever done, including saying goodbye as the water rushed up to meet him. This was a physical and mental pull that pushed and _pushed_.

There was a knock at the door. “Stevie?” Bucky’s muffled voice came to his ears. “Can I come in.”

“No.” Steve growled deep into his chest. All of his emotions were riled up now. There was a small bit in the back of his mind saying, ‘you need to calm down now,’ but the emotions and urges that felt so _hard_ to resist were there, grabbing at him and using whatever he can to get Steve to do what they wanted him to.

There was a slight rustling at the door, and it swung open. Steve let out a long growl, deep and powerful enough to send any lesser alpha out with their tail between their legs. Bucky came in, and shut the door behind him.

“What’s got your panties up in a twist.” Bucky folded his arms and gave Steve a challenging stare. The growl grew louder, and Steve crouched in a defensive position. “Huh Steve? I can’t hear you over the lawnmower in our room.”

“Shut up.” Steve snarled, his fists tightening. “Leave me alone.” (Normally he loved Buck’s scent. But now it burned in his nose. Made every hair on the back of his neck stand up straight. The sooner Buck left the better it would be, otherwise Steve might have to take a shot at him.)

“Steve. Stevie.” Bucky said, exposing his neck and showing his empty palms. “Hey, c'mon, it’s just me. What’s got you so riled up, punk?” The submissive gesture didn’t go unnoticed between the two of them.

Steve pushed air out his nose, willing his body to calm down. It made it almost impossible, and the thought of Tony kept on being pushed into his mind. “I can’t do this Buck.” Steve half growled into his hands. He collapsed onto his bed, covering his face with his hands.

“You can’t do what?” The bed shifted as Bucky sat next to him.

“I can’t do this. The whole ‘wooing Tony’ thing.”

“But you like his scent.” Bucky actually sounded confused.

“But he doesn’t like me. Okay?” Steve snapped, “and I don’t think I have any feelings for him. I mean, we are just friends, okay? And the only thing that is making me attracted to him is my biology. If we bonded we’d be miserable. And I don’t want that for him or for me.” Steve shook his head, finally letting his hands fall away. “I get that you like him, Buck. I won’t stop you from going after him. But I can’t do this.”

“But we’re mated, Steve. How can we be together, if we’re not really together?”

“Well, Buck.” Steve sighed after a moment. “I guess that really depends on you. I know you have your heart set on Tony. I won’t get in the way. Or bring you down.”

“Steven Grant Rogers.” Bucky snapped, “when have you ever brought me down. Never. In fact, I would go as far and say that you were the one who brought me up. You got that Punk? You are never going to get rid of me. Got it?” Bucky pinned Steve with a glare.

“Buck-,” Steve tried to say, but was interrupted.

“What has gotten your panties in a twist, huh Rogers? This morning you were excited to be around Tony, and now you’re dragging your feet like you got second thoughts. This isn’t your damn wedding, Steve, you can’t change your mind you big headed little shit.”

“Damn it Buck, if I thought I could be with Tony I would in a heartbeat. But that’s just biology talking. I can’t-”

“ _Bullshit_.” Bucky moved off of the bed. Steve sat up. “Something happened. What made you change your mind?”

“Nothing-”

“Steve, so help me, if you try to blow this off I will pin your little ass to this bed and I’ll show you how stupid you’re being.” Bucky snapped, a growl rumbling in his throat.

“Buck.” Steve sighed, “it’s just. I was.” He tried to formulate the words in his head but they kept on coming out in a jumbled mess. There was a pause, and Steve sank into a defeated pose. “I just. Went to go give Tony something to eat. And just. The smell. And I couldn’t stop myself. I wanted to. I really wanted to, but I couldn’t stop myself from thinking about it. I can’t do that to Tony. Not after what I’ve done to him. I just- it’s not safe for him to be around me.” The words came out into a random jumble of words, but apparently Bucky got the message.

“Steve.” Bucky also sounded defeated. “Why didn’t you say?”

“I know it’s stupid. My opinion about Tony doesn’t, no _shouldn’t_ , change because he isn’t an alpha. But god, Buck. I want him so much. My body wants me to go downstairs, and- and.” Steve paused, shuddering at the images flickering across his thoughts. “But I don’t. I want him, Buck. But I don’t _love_ him.” His hands had been making motions, but now they fell flat against the bed sheets. There was a silence. Steve was sure it was maybe a minute or two, but it felt like hours had passed before Bucky shifted his weight and sat down next to Steve again.

“Damn Rogers, who knew you’d be such a romantic at heart.” Bucky said, and that broke the ice. The two alphas laughed softly as Bucky curled up against Steve. They both drifted off into a comfortable silence.

It took a long time before Steve shifted.

“I’m sorry Buck.”

“Shut up, Punk. I don’t want to hear it.”

“I just. I don’t want my biology to control me.” Steve tried to explain.

“Do you know that there is medicine for this kinda stuff?” Bucky’s fingers brushed along the path of Steve's chest. “Although, I’m surprised you didn’t get any. The whole amplifying everything also included our instincts.”

Steve snorted. “I don’t think Erskine even thought I was an alpha, so I don’t even think he prepared for this.”

“That’s probably true.” Bucky murmured. There was another brief period of silence again. “I’ll lay off the ‘wooing Tony’ thing.”

“Buck,” Steve sounded slightly exasperated.

“I know. I know. But I don’t want him without you, Steve. And besides, it’s probably unfair to him that he’s off his suppressants and two alphas are bearing down on him. And the fact that one of them is terribly handsome fella.”

Steve turned his head, a small smile on his face. “Yeah?” He asked, maybe a little too breathily because whoa, Bucky’s lips were right there.

“Oh, and then there is you. So yeah, probably not fair.” Bucky gave him a shit eating grin, and Steve chuckled as he closed the distance. The kiss was soft, and warm, and _Bucky._ It grounded Steve in his choice.

“Jerk.” Steve whispered against Bucky’s lips.

“Punk.” Bucky said back as he brought his lips back to his mate's. It was so simple, but this little moment made Steve's heart swell to what felt like three times it’s size. As the kiss got deeper, Steve didn’t give Tony another single thought.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am a firm believer that JARVIS is watching all of this like we would watch a Spanish Soap-opera. Like. So dramatic. But emotions. *sigh* yep.
> 
> Still unbeta'd. Really need to get one. But I have commitment problems. :/
> 
> Sorry for any typos and have a Happy Easter!
> 
> (This will be getting better, I promise all good things now. Ish.)

**Author's Note:**

> My tumblr is ragingstucky.tumblr.com come and find me!! I love people giving me asks or prompts.
> 
> :)


End file.
